Song by Michelle Jana Chan BLOG TOUR @michellejchan @RandomTTours @unbounders #Giveaway #Competition #Win #Prize

 

Song is just a boy when he sets out from Lishui village in China. Brimming with courage and ambition, he leaves behind his impoverished broken family, hoping he’ll make his fortune and return home. Chasing tales of sugarcane, rubber and gold, Song embarks upon a perilous voyage across the oceans to the British colony of Guiana, but once there he discovers riches are not so easy to come by and he is forced into labouring as an indentured plantation worker.

This is only the beginning of Song’s remarkable life, but as he finds himself between places and between peoples, and increasingly aware that the circumstances of birth carry more weight than accomplishments or good deeds, Song fears he may live as an outsider forever.

This beautifully written and evocative story spans nearly half a century and half the globe, and though it is set in another century, Song’s story of emigration and the quest for an opportunity to improve his life is timeless.

Song by Michelle Jana Chan was published on Unbound on 18 March 2021. I'm delighted to feature the book today as part of the #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour and have one paperback copy to give away.

'A wonderfully lush and atmospheric odyssey of survival against all odds’- Bernardine Evaristo

'Precise, heartfelt, breathtaking . . . Song will touch you with its remarkable odyssey and make you believe in dreams again’- Elif Shafak

'A beautifully told tale with fascinating historical insight’- Vanity Fair

A strong picaresque element powers this saga.’- The Daily Mail

‘…one of the Caribbean’s little-known stories.’- The Times Literary Supplement

‘Michelle Jana Chan brings a world of equal peril and possibility to life with her rich, radiant prose.'- Tatler

Song offers a rare and compelling fictional exploration of the pioneering Chinese presence in British Guyana, in the 18th century. A totally convincing coming-of-age novel, which chronicles the growth not only of a young boy who left China with no idea of the world he was heading into, but also a powerful testimony to frontier life in Guyana's gold-mining interior.’- Jacob Ross, winner of the Jhalak Prize 2017

‘A dazzling novel, brimming with psychological acuity. Chan conjures the sweet smells of Guyana, the shadow of an oil lamp and a filigree of leaves leaning over a river in swirling mist. An unforgettable portrait of a man and a little-known land.’- Sara Wheeler, author

As part of my on-going  #HappyBirthdayRandomThings  celebrations during the month of March, I'm delighted to offer a paperback  copy of SONG  by MICHELLE JANA CHAN, published by Unbound today to one lucky winner.

Entry is simple, just fill out the competition widget in this blog. The competition will stay open for two weeks. GOOD LUCK! 

One paperback copy of Song by Michelle Jana Chan

An award-winning journalist and travel editor of Vanity Fair, Michelle is also
contributing editor at Condé Nast Traveller, presenter of the BBC's 'Global Guide' and a writer for The Daily Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal and Travel & Leisure. 

She has been named the Travel Media Awards' Travel Writer of the Year. 

www.michellejanachan.com

Twitter @michellejchan

Dead Perfect by Noelle Holten #HappyBirthdayRandomThings @nholten40 #Giveaway #MyLifeInBooks #Competition #Prize #Win #DeadPerfect

 

A murdered woman…

When the body of a young woman is found in a local park, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she’s dealing with no ordinary killer.  The murder victim has been disfigured; her outfit changed to resemble someone else.  Someone Maggie knows all too well…her close friend Dr Kate Moloney.

A determined detective…

Maggie is determined to keep her friend safe, but with Kate already struggling with a threatening stalker, Maggie now fears Kate’s life is in real danger.  Who else would want to harm Kate and why else would the killer be turning his victims into exact replicas – his living dolls? 

Can Maggie find the depraved killer?  Or will Kate become his next living doll?

READ MY REVIEW OF DEAD PERFECT ON RANDOM THINGS

As part of my on-going #HappyBirthdayRandomThings celebrations, I am so pleased to welcome author Noelle Holten here today. She's talking to us about the books that are special to her in My Life In Books

I also have one paperback copy of Dead Perfect to giveaway. 

To win a print copy of DEAD PERFECT, just Follow and Retweet the pinned Tweet at @annecater and good luck!

MY LIFE IN BOOKS - NOELLE HOLTEN

Thank you Anne for inviting me to take part in My Life in Books as part of the fabulous Random Things Through My Letterbox birthday celebrations! I’ve chosen ten of my favourite books that I have read numerous times over the years with a brief explanation as to why I love them so much! 

The Narnia Chronicles – The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: 

This was the first boxset of books I ever owned, purchased by my dad and probably the first time I ever really understood about escaping into books and the story. I would look into wardrobes for many years after this in the hopes that I might one day find my Narnia. 

The Nancy Drew / Hardy Boys series 

Where my love of mystery began – I adored these series of books because my sister and I would read them together or just after each other and we fancied ourselves kid detectives. I saved my pocket money to buy a fingerprint dusting kit once to see if I could solve some made up crime we had come up with – of course, we always did! 

Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret

I am pretty sure that every girl who read when I was growing up (in Canada at least) read this book and many more by Judy Blume! It’s funny, filled with all those questions a teenaged girl might have and quite thought-provoking. I still remember it some thirty years on. 

The Adrian Mole series 

Another series I escaped into in my early teen years when life wasn’t fair, friendships were everything and our parents just didn’t understand. And I can’t forget – finding true love of course – for Adrian, that was Pandora – for me…well it was many boys and Although I didn’t have cane like Adrian, I was very overweight and invisible to most of my crushes – so I could relate. These books made me laugh, cry and nod my head. I have read them many times and still smile. I never want to be a teenager again! 

Rebecca

One of my all time favourite books – the perfect example of a psychological suspense thriller, I was totally captivated by this story which had it all. A haunting past, gaslighting, conflict, love – and so much more. Even as I type I am thinking of Manderley. *sigh* I think it might be time for another read of this classic gothic tale! 

Sophie’s World  

I read this book in 1991 just when I was started my Hons BA in Philosophy and absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a YA mystery, philosophy and fantasy cross-over and I adored it. I think I’ve read it about ten times now and each time I discover something new in the pages. I want to say more but it is one of those books you have to experience for yourself as it will have a different meaning for everyone in my opinion. 

Crime and Punishment 

When anyone asks me what my all-time favourite crime book is – I name this. It forged my love of philosophy and crime and actually it was what made me want to study both. The question of morality and what would you do in the back of your mind as you read about Raskolnikov’s mental journey after he commits a random act of violence. An absolute masterpiece in my opinion. 

Salem’s Lot

HUGE Stephen King fan here. I found his books in my early youth and have been a fan ever since. I particularly loved Salem’s Lot because the idea that people were returning from the dead fascinated me and with a writer as the main character and the realisation that perhaps we should leave well enough alone – also be careful what you wish for – well, it just had everything. I also remember being totally creeped out and my love of horror began! 

Postmortem 

During my teens I was a horror / true crime fan – I read and collected every serial killer book made – still do! But then I happened upon Patricia Cornwell in the 90’s and my love of crime fiction developed even further. I love the Scarpetta series and still do – as the author created characters that grew throughout the series and stories that mimicked real life. The details were phenomenal and with the author being a medical examiner herself, the authenticity of what I was reading added something special to the series that I found a rarity at the time.

Dangerous Lady

My love of gangland thrillers came after my first book by Martina Cole – and hasn’t stopped since. I’ve read every one of Martina’s books and this is one of my favourites – the main MC, Maura is badass – and what I love about Martina’s books was the idea that women could be fierce, strong individuals despite what they have to go through to get to the top.  I always get such an adrenaline rush after finishing a book by this author – like I can take on the world – though I have no experience as a gangland boss… yet! A girl can dream, eh? 

Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. 

She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of risk cases as well as working in a multi agency setting. 

She has three Hons BAs - Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice - and a Masters in Criminology. 

Noelle's hobbies include reading, attending as many book festivals as she can afford and sharing the booklove via her blog.

Twitter @nholten40

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller BLOG TOUR @ClaireFuller2 @HannahKSx @PenguinUKBooks #UnsettledGround

 

Twins Jeanie and Julius have always been different from other people. At 51 years old, they still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation and poverty. Inside the walls of their old cottage they make music, and in the garden they grow (and sometimes kill) everything they need for sustenance.

But when Dot dies suddenly, threats to their livelihood start raining down. Jeanie and Julius would do anything to preserve their small sanctuary against the perils of the outside world, even as their mother's secrets begin to unravel, putting everything they thought they knew about their lives at stake.

Unsettled Ground is a heart-stopping novel of betrayal and resilience, love and survival. It is a portrait of life on the fringes of society that explores with dazzling emotional power how we can build our lives on broken foundations, and spin light from darkness.

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller is published on 25 March 2021 by Fig Tree and has been long listed for the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this blog tour.

I have read all of Claire Fuller's novels. She is an outstanding writer, her stories are always just a little bit different from the norm, with characters who are carefully and skilfully created in settings that are always evocative,  and natural.

I was delighted to hear that Unsettled Ground had been long listed for this years Women's Prize for Fiction and will be cheering the author on through that process.

Whilst Unsettled Ground is set in the present day, there's a feeling of the past that runs through it. I was brought up in a small farming village, populated by families that had been there for centuries, who had married each other and who knew everything about each other. It can be a claustrophobic way to live at times, with ears ever to the ground and no deed going unnoticed. There were those 'odd' people in my village; usually unmarried adults who had lived with and cared for elderly parents. Whose own lives had revolved around their mother and father and who seemed to have no identity of their own. Back in the 1970s, we just accepted people like that as part of our village. I rarely saw any teasing, or bullying, maybe a few kids would shout something and run up the street, but on the whole, they were just members of the community, and everyone knew their history.

Julius and Jeanie Seeder; the main characters in this story are just like that. Fifty-one year old twins, they've lived in a run-down cottage with their mother for their entire lives. Their father died suddenly thirty-eight years ago, and that day is engraved in their hearts and on their minds. Their mother Dot dies within the first few pages of this story and it is this tragic event that lays the foundation for this beautifully written and precisely observed novel.

Jeanie's voice is the loudest within the story, and it is she who slowly and painfully begins to realise that Dot had many secrets that she didn't share with her children. Jeanie is delicate, unwell, barely literate, yet she is musically talented, she can grow exquisite garden produce and has an undeniable loyalty to Dot, to Julius and to her dog Maud. Her discoveries about who Dot really was, and in fact, who Jeanie really is are incredibly painful for her to bear, there is a sense of denial that runs throughout the pages, that slowly turns to shock and then to anger. It's is beautifully and subtly done, the author writes with an ease that is startling in its complexities. 

Unsettled Ground is, at the heart, a story about deception and secrets. It is a coming-of-age tale, but features characters who are in their middle-ages, rather than their teens. It is filled with music and bursting with love, and sadness. It is often bleak, with passages that are really quite hard to read, but the magical writing overwhelms the sadness, making it a story that is both compelling, and ultimately satisfying. 

Clever, sharp and irresistible, this is a novel that has to be savoured, it is not a story to rush through. It should be digested and slept on, and then appreciated for the beautifully written book that it is. One of my favourite books of this year so far. 

Claire Fuller was born in Oxfordshire, England, in 1967.
She gained a degree in sculpture from Winchester School of Art, but went on to have along career in marketing and didn't start writing until she was forty.

She has written three previous novels: Our Endless Numbered Days, which won the Desmond Elliot Prize, Swimming Lessons, which was shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award, and Bitter Orange.

She has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester and lives in Hampshire with her husband.
www.clairefuller.co.uk.      Twitter @ClaireFuller2

The Cracks That Let The Light In by Jessica Moxham BLOG TOUR @jessmoxham @RandomTTours @Octopus_Books #CracksThatLetTheLightIn

 

Jessica Moxham thought she was prepared for the experience of motherhood. Armed with advice from friends and family, parenting books and antenatal classes, she felt ready.

After giving birth, she found herself facing a different, more uncertain reality. Her son, Ben, was fighting to stay alive. When Jessica could finally take him home from hospital, the challenges were far from over.

In this hopeful memoir, Jessica shares her journey in raising Ben. His disability means he will never be able to move or communicate without assistance. Jessica has to learn how to feed Ben when he can't eat, wrestle with red tape to secure his education and defend his basic rights in the face of discrimination. As Ben begins to thrive, alongside his two younger siblings, Jessica finds that caring for a child with unique needs teaches her about appreciating difference and doing things your own way.

This uplifting story is about the power of family love, finding inner strength and, above all, hope.

The Cracks That Let The Light In by Jessica Moxham was published on 4 March by Octopus Books / Endeavour.  I'm joining the #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour today with a spotlight post about this inspiring and impressive book.

'A powerful, moving and inspiring story - it opens up a whole new world of understanding.' Esther Freud

'This is wonderful. I urge you to read it. It is life enhancing and I defy you not to fall in love with Ben!' Natasha Poliszczuk, Books Editor, You Magazine

'An honest and unflinching account of Jessica's journey as the mother of a child born with complex needs. Essential reading... and a source of solace for those who may find themselves on a similar path' Leah Hazard, author of Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story

'Jessica's beautiful words gave me a deeper understanding about embracing disability. I am inspired and will be recommending this book to parents as a testament to following your parenting instincts.' Arabella Carter-Johnson, author of Iris Grace

“The Cracks That Let the Light In is about what happened when it felt like my life had fallen apart and how I put it back together. It’s about family, love and how to be happy when your life turns out nothing like you planned.”

Jessica Moxham is a writer with interest in the areas of parenting and disability. Her
eldest son, Ben, is severely disabled. She writes a blog called son-stories. com discussing how she and her family support him with his disability. Her blog is read by parents, health professionals and educators, among others.

Jessica has given lectures to health professionals on her family’s experience, from small groups of students to more than 100 doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. She has been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live and has written for the Guardian on austerity and disability. She is also a qualified architect and has worked in London and the Middle East. Jessica now lives in London with her husband and three children, in the house she redesigned to suit Ben.

Follow Jessica on Instagram at @jessmoxham

A Family Reunion by Patricia Scanlan BLOG TOUR @patriciascanlanl18 @simonschusterUK @TeamBATC #AFamilyReunion @RandomTTours #Giveaway #Win

 

One explosive family reunion. A lifetime of secrets revealed.

 

When four feisty women from the same family, get together at a family reunion, anything can happen…

 

Marie-Claire, betrayed by her partner Marc plans her revenge to teach him a lesson he will never forget. She travels from Toronto, home to Ireland, to the house of the Four Winds, for her great aunt Reverend Mother Brigid’s eightieth birthday celebrations. It will be a long-awaited reunion for three generations of family, bringing together her mother, Keelin and grandmother, Imelda - who have never quite got along

 

And then all hell breaks loose. 

 

Bitter, jealous Imelda makes a shocking revelation that forces them all to confront their pasts, admit mistakes, and face the truths that have shaped their lives. With four fierce, opinionated women in one family, will they ever be able to forgive the past and share a future?

 

And what of Marc?

 

It’s never too late to make amends…or is it? 

 

Spanning generations and covering seismic shifts in the lives of women, A Family Reunion is a compelling, thought-provoking, important and highly emotional novel from a trailblazing author in women's fiction.

A Family Reunion by Patricia Scanlan was published by Simon and Schuster on 4 March 2021, and was previously published under the title The Liberation of Brigid Dunne.

I adored this story, it's totally absorbing. My review will be featured in the Express later this month. I'm delighted to share an extract from the book with you today as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour 

Extract from A Family Reunion 

The taxi cruised slowly along Niagara Street, the lights of Christmas trees in the red-bricked apartments twinkling into the snow-swirled night. Marie-Claire felt the tug of longing for Ireland, and home. 

Three hours ago she’d been a woman with plans and an idea where her future lay. Happy. Secure. Ambitious. One short, clandestine phone call had changed all that. Now she was in a maelstrom; shock, sadness, bitterness and rage tossing her on their churning seas. 

It was that roiling rage that would get her through dinner with Marc tonight. She paid the taxi driver and wrapped her heavy green, faux-fur-trimmed cape around her. Marc had made a fool of her. Her anger was as much directed at herself as him, but he would never know what lay behind her decision to split, she decided with steely resolve. Let him think she was leaving him because she’d decided it was time to move on. Let him be the one questioning her decision. Let him be the one asking why. Whether Amelia was a mere distraction, fling, whatever, she didn’t care. There would never be trust in their relationship if she stayed. And anyway, now she didn’t want to.

Something unexpected solidified within Marie-Claire as she took a deep breath and walked towards the inviting lamp- lit entrance. What had happened today was life-changing. A kick in the ass! A wake-up call, her mother would say.

Was she to give up her life in Toronto and the career   in sound engineering that she’d worked so hard to build? Running the Radio & TV Voice-overs department in a busy audio post facilities company that was going places. Marc’s company, unfortunately. She’d have to go looking for another job. But where?

Right there, on that freezing night on a dark Toronto sidewalk, Marie-Claire knew exactly what she wanted and where she wanted to be. She wanted to go home. Back to the Four Winds and her snug little room in the eaves to take time to think and evaluate.

She’d even be able to go to Great-Aunt Brigid’s surprise eightieth birthday party. An invite she’d  reluctantly  had to say no to because she’d originally been scheduled to be in New York.

Marie-Claire opened the restaurant door and walked in, preparing to put on the act of her life.

As part of my on-going  #HappyBirthdayRandomThings  celebrations during the month of March, I'm delighted to offer a paperback  copy of A FAMILY REUNION  by PATRICIA SCANLAN, today to one lucky winner.

To win a print copy of A FAMILY REUNION , just Follow and Retweet the pinned Tweet at @annecater and good luck!

Patricia Scanlan was born in Dublin, where she still lives. 

Her bestsellers are APARTMENT 3B; FINISHING TOUCHES; FOREIGN AFFAIRS; PROMISES, PROMISES; MIRROR, MIRROR; CITY GIRL; CITY WOMAN; CITY LIVES; FRANCESCA'S PARTY; TWO FOR JOY; DOUBLE WEDDING; DIVIDED LOYALTIES, FORGIVE AND FORGET and WINTER BLESSINGS, a collection of quotes, blessings, poems and reminiscences.

Patricia is the series editor and a contributing author to the Open Door series. She also teaches creative writing to second-level students and is involved in Adult Literacy.

Twitter @patriciascanlanl18

The Secret Diary of a New Mum by Cari Rosen BLOG TOUR @cazroz @Duckbooks @RandomTTours #SecretDiaryOfANewMum

Whatever your age, becoming a mum for the first time brings excitement, anxiety and numerous challenges. But how do you cope when, to top it all off, you discover you are almost old enough to be the mother of everyone else in your birth prep group? As one in five babies is born to a mum over 35, and the number of women over 40 giving birth has doubled, The Secret Diary of a New Mum (Aged 43 ¼) is Cari Rosen's timely and hilarious account of becoming a first-time mother in her 40s.

Whether it's deftly side-stepping questions about your age and baby number two, weeping as younger counterparts ping back into their size ten jeans within thirty seconds of giving birth, or your doctor suddenly referring to you as geriatric Cari approaches the shared experiences of an ever-increasing number of mothers with insight, humour and honesty.

The Secret Diary of a New Mum by Cari Rosen was published on 11 March 2021 by Duckworth Books. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour.

I am not a mother. I've never wished to be a mother. I have every respect of every woman who makes that huge huge step. Really, I'm probably not the target market for this book, but oh my goodness, I have absolutely loved every single page of it. I have laughed myself silly at times, I have read passages out to my husband .... we both laughed ...  in that smug, child-free fashion that smug child-free people have!

I have also cringed, and I've also been a bit angry. Angry on the behalf of the author, who I have met, and who I do NOT consider to be old. However, in the world of pregnancy, and ante-natal, and post-natal, and afterwards, she's been told that she's old. No matter that she's highly intelligent, has had an enormously successful career, can provide financially and emotionally for her child. Oh no, that counts for nothing. It seems, to be the perfect mother, you need to be aged around 20, with bags of energy, a stomach that flips straight back to being as flat as a pancake as you leave the maternity wing, and no grey hairs!

Cari and her husband wanted their child. They didn't meet as teens, they met later in life. They were happy and they wanted a child. They were fortunate to conceive pretty quickly and whilst Cari was delighted, she kind of knew what was coming.

This is one of the funniest books that I've read for years. If and when I meet Cari again, probably at a book event, when we can leave our houses once more, I don't know how I will look her in the eye. Her startling description of a breast pump, and just how far a nipple can extend brought tears to my eyes. I felt the pain, but I also thought it was hilarious. Sorry Cari.

What shines through in Cari's book most of all,  is her undeniable love for her daughter. It is clear that she and her husband are rock solid, and between them they have created and formed a funny and bright child. Some of her sayings just delighted me, and I would have loved to be that person on the park bench who she sat beside and showed her stomach too. Trips to the supermarket sounded joyful, I too will now ensure that I say hello to every fish on the counter ... who cares if they are dead? Cari's daughter certainly doesn't

This is honest, hilarious and utterly magical. When I finished the book I immediately began to miss hearing more about life in the Rosen household. Wonderful and highly recommended from me.

Cari Rosen worked as a journalist before moving into television production, working on entertainment programmes, sport and documentaries. 

These days Cari is a full-time editor and writer who lives in London but adheres firmly to the maxim ‘You can take a girl out of Manchester – but you’ll never take Manchester out of the girl.' 

Find out more about the author here: www.carirosen.com

Twitter @cazroz