Before The Fire by Sarah Butler

It's June 2011. Stick and Mac are a couple of months shy of eighteen; summer's approaching and they're about to leave their north Manchester estate for the beaches of southern Spain.
But the night before they're planning to go, Mac ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, the victim of a random knife attack, and suddenly Stick's going nowhere.
His mum doesn't want him to leave the house; his dad's desperate to be his best friend; and his nan's boyfriend keeps telling him Mac's doing just fine in the spirit world.

Then he meets J and she might just be everything he needs. Except she's a firebrand with a grudge against the police, and the August riots are just around the corner... 

Before the Fire by Sarah Butler is published by Picador (Pan Macmillan) on 12 March 2015 and is the author's second novel. I reviewed her first book; Ten Things I've Learnt About Love, here on Random Things back in January 2013.

Before The Fire was inspired by the UK riots of 2011, and the story takes place over the months just prior to the riots in August of that year.

There were a variety of responses to the riots that summer. In Parliament, David Cameron said: The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, vandalising and thieving. It is criminality, pure and simple - and there is absolutely no excuse for it. 

Whilst in the Guardian, Seumas Milne wrote: While bankers have publicly looted the country's wealth and got away with it, it's not hard to see why those who are locked out of the gravy train might think they were entitled to help themselves to a mobile phone.

Stick and Mac; two seventeen-year-old boys from a run-down Manchester estate. Neither of them have a father living at home, both of them are determined to escape their dreary surroundings. They are going to drive to Spain, in Stick's old Ford. They will drive across Europe, so what if it's only two hours by plane? They will drive, that way they will see more places. Stick has never seen the sea.

Their cases are packed. They have their Euros. Their mothers are worried but know that they have to let them go. Their going away party is planned. Mac, the joker, wants to dress up. Coconut shell bras, tropical print shirts and sunglasses on, they spend what should be their last Manchester evening in a bar with a sticky carpet getting drunker and drunker. When Mac decides that it is time to leave, Stick is otherwise occupied, in the toilets with a girl wearing a blue sequinned top.

That blue sequinned top will haunt Mac for the rest of his days.  Mac gets into a spot of bother on the bus during his journey home and never arrives. Stick doesn't see Mac again.

Stick is distraught, and angry and filled with grief and guilt and loss. He pushes his family away, he gets drunk, takes drugs, he just wants Mac to come back.

When Mac meets J, with her shocking bright hair and the ability to land a good punch, he is intrigued. He sees someone who is like him, who understands, and who will let him talk, and explain.

Before The Fire was inspired by the riots, but isn't really about the riots. It is a story that is exquisitely written, about rage and grief, and about modern day living. Stick is not the nicest of lads, he's uncouth, he's self-centred, he drinks too much, takes drugs and thinks about sex quite a lot. However, he is pretty realistic, he's seventeen, he's out of work, he lives with a mother who has issues of her own, his dad has a new family, his sister died in a fire and now his best mate is gone.

Sarah Butler's writing is bold and daring. Her ability to recreate the mind of a young man is stunning, and despite the horror of the riots, she enables the reader to empathise with the rioters. She has an understanding of the whys and the hows, without condoning what happened.

This novel is gritty and very near to the knuckle. Some readers may be shocked by the language, by the lifestyle choices of some of the characters. This is brutally honest writing and whilst it exposes the seedier side of life, it is also very beautiful. Whilst the language may be coarse, the message is true and clear, the exploration of the devastation of grief and loss on family and on friendship groups is precise and striking.

Before The Fire is a clever, modern, poetic novel. It is complex, exploring issues that are often glossed over, with grace and ease.

I am very impressed by Sarah Butler's writing, she is an author that I am sure will keep us entertained for years to come.

My thanks to Francesca Main from Picador/Pan Macmillan who continues to feed my book appetite with her stunning choices.


Sarah Butler lives in Manchester and runs a consultancy which develops literature and arts projects that explore and question our relationship to place. 

She has been writer in residence on the Central Line, the Greenwich Peninsula, and at Great Ormond Street Hospital, and has taught creative writing for the British Council in Kuala Lumpur. 

Ten Things I've Learnt About Love was her first novel, and was published in twelve languages around the world. 

Find out more about Sarah's writing at www.sarahbutler.org.uk
Follow her on Twitter @SarahButler100

The Secrets Sisters Keep by Sinead Moriarty

The Devlin sisters rely on each other - but some things are just too painful to share, even when your sisters are your best friends ...

Mum-of-four Julie thought that if her family had more money, life would be easier. But now that they've inherited a fortune, her problems are only starting.

Lawyer Louise is used to having life go exactly as she wants it to. So accepting that she cannot control everything in her world is beyond her.

And former model Sophie can just about cope with getting older - that's until her ex-husband finds a younger model.

All three women think that some battles are best fought alone. Maybe they need to think again ...

The Secrets Sisters Keep by Sinead Moriarty was published by Penguin on 26 February 2015, and is the author's tenth novel. I reviewed This Child of Mine by the same author, here on Random Things in October 2013. The Secrets Sisters Keep is the sequel to Me and My Sisters which was published in April 2012, and although the same characters are featured in this latest novel, if you haven't already read the first book, don't worry as the author includes more than enough background detail for the reader to enjoy this story as a standalone novel.

The three Devlin sisters; Julie, Louise and Sophie are very close, yet have very different lives and personalities. Despite the closeness of their relationships, each one of them has their own secret. These secrets form the backbone of this warm, witty and at times, pretty emotional story.

Julie is mother to four boys, including nine-year-old triplets. In the past she's had to scrimp and save to make ends meet, but life was always good. Being rich was something that Julie dreamt of, she was sure that it would make life even better. Be careful what you wish for, because as Julie has found out, inheriting millions does not equal happiness. The large house, the flash car, the designer clothes and the private education means nothing if your husband is spending all of his free time on the golf course with his new rich friends.

Sophie did have it all. A successful modelling career, a handsome husband, a beautiful daughter; money was no object. When her husband made a bad investment and lost everything, Sophie's world crumbled. She's spent the last few years putting herself back together again, running a business, being a single mother. When her small daughter Jess falls under the spell of her ex husband's new, younger, slimmer partner, Sophie is heartbroken.

Louise is in control. She's a hard-nosed lawyer, her employees fear her. Her daughter Clara is exceptionally bright. Clara can read and write, she knows everything about birds, she is polite, she's just a little shy.

Sinead Moriarty takes the reader on each sister's journey as she deals with her secret. The chapters are narrated by either Julie, Sophie or Louise, and this brings the sisters to life, allowing the reader to learn more about each of them, than even their sisters knows.

Packed with colourful characters, The Secrets Sisters Keep is charming and frank. This is not a light fluffy read and deals with some pretty serious issues, yet at times it is wonderfully funny and will have the reader roaring with laughter. The author has a real knack for creating characters that the reader can both relate to and love, and others that are despicable, yet all are very realistic.

Dealing with family relationships and bond between siblings, and not just sisters, there is a brother; Gavin, who I defy anyone not to fall just a little in love with.

I enjoyed The Secrets Sisters Keep very much. Sinead Moriarty is a great author with the knack of combining humour and sadness together in one story. Her writing is warm and witty and very entertaining.

My thanks to Catherine from Penguin who sent my copy for review.

Sinead Moriarty lives with her family in Dublin. 

Her previous titles are: The Baby Trail; A Perfect Match; From Here to Maternity; In My Sister's Shoes; Keeping It In the Family (also titled Whose Life is it Anyway?); Pieces of My Heart; Me and My Sisters; This Child of Mine and Mad About You.

For more information, visit her website www.sineadmoriarty.com
Find her author page on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter @sinead_moriarty

Supper Club at Lemon Tree Dining

I love my food. I love to find new places to eat, and trying new things. I love cooking, but I'm not confident enough to cook for other people.

I've been reading about Supper Clubs for a couple of years now, and have been intrigued and desperately wanted to try one for myself. Despite the wealth of fabulous ingredients and wonderful places to eat here in Lincolnshire, I have struggled to find anywhere locally that offered a Supper Club experience. Then I stumbled across Lemon Tree Dining - based in Retford, just across the border in Nottinghamshire.

Lemon Tree Dining is run and hosted by Rob who used to chef at River Cottage, and his wife Louise. They welcome diners to their beautiful house in Retford, and treat them like royalty and feed them the most amazing food. Their February Supper Club was billed as a seven course tasting menu, I booked it as soon as possible!

What a truly fabulous evening we had! There were eighteen guests in all, Martin and I were seated at a long table with three other couples. They don't have a drinks licence, so guests are invited to bring along their own alcohol, there is no charge for corkage.

The house is stunning, the welcome was so warm and everyone was soon chatting and getting to
know each other over the welcome drink of raspberry cocktail and Rob's fabulous canapes. Home baked bread with balsamic and oil dressing, hand-made crisps with the perfect aioli, slow roasted belly pork with honey and soy sauce and some delicious courgette and cauliflower falafal.

For the next three and a half hours we were treated to the most amazing array of scrumptious food. Rob came out from the kitchen between courses to explain exactly what we would be eating next, where it came from and how he had cooked it. I can honestly say that this is some of the best food that I've ever tasted and the service and attention is second to none.

Wild Mushroom soup and baguette

~ served as a 'takeaway', in a dish in a brown paper carrier with a tiny wooden spoon, this soup was full of wild mushrooms. Creamy and delicious with a crusty baguette to mop it all up.

Venison carpaccio with shallots and horseradish

Wonderfully pink and sliced so thinly. The venison was so tender, the knife glided through it. The dressing of shallot and horseradish complimented but didn't overpower

Breaded lamb belly with charred fennel and apple & mint chutney

The lamb belly had been slow roasted and pressed, then breaded. The fennel was charred, giving a smoky flavour and the apple and mint chutney was the perfect match for the rich meat.

Lemon Sorbet

This small shot glass of icy lemon sorbet was the perfect palette cleanser after the rich meat dishes

Scallop with black pudding, cauliflower puree and apple

Scallop and black pudding is one of my favourite dishes, I would always order it form a menu. This scallop was huge; fat and juicy. Personally, I would have preferred a little more caramelisation of the scallop, but even so, it was a beautiful dish.

Fillet of Beef with purple sprouting brocolli, butter bean and leek mash and beef jus

Another perfect piece of meat. Pink in the middle, with so much flavour. The butter bean and leek mash was a quirky touch, and really worked so well. 

Sticky Ginger cake, honeycomb ice-cream, rhubarb mousse

This dish was a joy to behold. The ginger cake was sweet, moist, sticky and probably the best ginger cake that I've ever eaten. The honeycomb ice cream was perfect and that rhubarb mousse was the lightest, most delicate mousse ever. I would easily have eaten another portion.

Home roasted coffee, special marshmallow and dessert wine

To finish, we were presented with a glass of wonderfully rich coffee, served black and strong with no sugar - just how coffee should be. Alongside this was a square of delicious home-made marshmallow, on a skewer with a tea light for toasting, and finally a small glass of beautiful dessert wine.

Needless to say, after all of that food we felt completely happy and very full. 

Lemon Tree Dining Supper Club was wonderful. Rob and Louise are wonderful hosts, their home is amazing and their waiting staff are professional and extremely polite. This was an experience that I would urge everyone to try. The absolute perfect evening.

Ghosting by Jonathan Kemp

When 65-year old Grace Wellbeck sees what she believes to be the ghost of her first husband, she fears for her sanity and begins to worry she's having another breakdown. 

A second sighting of the ghost later the same day sends her careering back in time to the first day she met Pete, in 1958 at Blackpool Pleasure beach. She revisits their courtship, their wedding day, and the day, six months later, when Pete first hits her. 

Haunted by her past, and memories of her daughter, Hannah, whose death brought on her first breakdown, Grace realises she has to make some changes. 

The ghost, Luke, turns out to be very real. As Grace becomes entangled in the disorientating world of art and drugs he and his friends inhabit, she feels increasingly estranged from her second husband and the life they've built together. 

Grief-soaked, long-buried memories of a violent past come back thick and fast and bring her to a momentous decision.

Ghosting by Jonathan Kemp is published in paperback by Myriad Editions on 12 March 2015.

Ghosting is a short, but absolutely stunning novel. Jonathan Kemp has created a story that is both haunting and beautiful. His exploration of the human mind and the way that his lead character Grace's mind is affected by her grief and loss is so powerful.

Grace is an elderly lady who sees the ghost of her first husband. Seeing Pete's image brings back vivid, painful and terrifying memories and it is not until she sees the ghost again that she realises that it is not Pete's spirit, but a real man; Luke.

Luke looks so like Pete that Grace becomes consumed by her memories and by her present situation and makes the decision to change her life completely. The reader is treated to flash backs from Grace's life, we are taken back to her youth, the heady days of the late 1950s in Blackpool when she and Pete first met. As the novel progresses, we accompany Grace through the pain of her marriage to Pete and learn more about the loss, suffering and heartbreak that she has coped with during her life.

Mental illness, death, grief, loss and despair are the themes that run through Ghosting, and although these are dark and serious issues, the novel does at times, contain glints of black humour and lots of insight,

Grace finds herself caught up with people and in places that are totally alien to her, she encounters new ways of thinking and of living. Grace opens her mind and allows herself to be helped and guided by these new experiences, and in turn, Grace herself offers the wisdom of her years to the other characters.

Wonderfully crafted, Ghosting is a story that will remain with the reader long after the last page has been turned. A novel to savour, an author to admire.

My thanks to Emma from Myriad Editions who sent my copy for review.

Jonathan Kemp was born in Manchester on the same day as the first Velvet Underground album was released. He spent the first two years of his life in Malaysia, but grew up in Cheshire and moved to London in 1989.

His first novel, London Triptych (2010), was shortlisted for the inaugural Green Carnation Prize and won the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award. His highly acclaimed collection of short stories, Twentysix (2011), is a milestone of literary erotica in the tradition of Georges Bataille and Jean Genet. His second novel, Ghosting, will be published in March 2015. His fiction and non-fiction has appeared in Chroma, the online queer literary journal Polari, Brand Magazine, and in the anthologies Best Gay Erotica 2010 and Best Gay Short Stories 2010.

Kemp teaches creative writing, literature and queer theory at Birkbeck, University of London, where he was named Distinguished Sessional Lecturer in 2010. He was a co-founder of the Planet Martha Theatre Company (1994-98).

For more information about Jonathan Kemp, visit his website www.jonathan-kemp.com

Follow him on Twitter @JonathanMKemp

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Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FEEL TRULY ALIVE?

Aged 24, Matt Haig's world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again.

A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth.

'I wrote this book because the oldest clichés remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven't been able to see it . . . Words, just sometimes, really can set you free.'

Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig is published by Canongate in hardback on 5 March 2015.


Reasons To Stay Alive is a brave, poignant and honest account of Matt Haig's experience of living with depression. Part memoir, part self-help manual and part research, it is clear that this must have been a difficult book to write. It's also, at times, a difficult book to read, I felt uncomfortable, almost voyeuristic at times, but I appreciate the importance of this book. I appreciate that for many people, this book will help them to understand themselves, it will make them feel less alone, it will go some way to enabling them to take some control of their day to day life.

I've never suffered from depression, I've never had to support anyone with depression. I have friends who have had depression, they've told me about it, but I've never seen it for myself. I guess that I'm lucky, or maybe I'm blind, for it's clear that depression is an illness that affects so many people at some stage in their life. Maybe it will happen to me one day, or to a friend, or a family member. If it does, then I believe that this book will help me.

It's really difficult for someone who has not had first-hand experience of depression to examine the impact of the writing. I am reassured by the review quotes on the cover, from people such as Stephen Fry and Nathan Filer, for I know that they can comment with far more authority than I can.

There were parts in Reasons to Stay Alive that really made me think, and consider how society as a whole perceive the issue of mental illness, and it is that term in itself; 'mental illness' that sparks an interesting debate. Matt Haig talks about how we separate mental illness from physical illness, how the brain is seen to be so separate from the rest of the body. Why do we do this? Why do we assume that our brain is not part of our body and not realise that when our brain misfires, then the rest of our body can be affected too?  Or, sometimes, when our body malfunctions, this makes our brain start to suffer too? As someone who suffers from an 'invisible physical illness', I can really understand how frustrating this must be to someone who is suffering so much that they want to die, that they cannot see a future, that they just want the pain and anguish to go away.

Matt Haig has opened his heart in Reasons to Stay Alive. He is brutally honest about himself, he exposes his vulnerabilities. His writing is engaging and warm, he has learnt so much about himself, and he is offering his wisdom to others. He cares and it shows.

I'm probably not the target market for this book, but I am pleased that I have read it. I will remember it and I will use it if I need to. I admire Matt Haig, he's a talented writer and he didn't have to open up and share his wisdom, but he has, and I have no doubt that in doing so, he will help many many people, and hopefully he will help himself.

Matt Haig was born in 1975. His debut novel, The Last Family in England, was a UK bestseller. 

The Dead Fathers Club, an update of Hamlet featuring an eleven-year-old boy, and The Possession of Mr Cave, a horror story about an overprotective father, are being made into films and have been translated into numerous languages. 

He is also the author of the award winning children's novel Shadow Forest, and its sequel, The Runaway Troll. 

A film of The Radleys is in production with Alfonso Cuaron. Matt has lived in London and Spain, and now lives in York with the writer Andrea Semple and their two children. 

For more information, visit his website at www.matthaig.com
Follow him on Twitter @matthaig1

Past Crimes by Glen Erik Hamilton *** BLOG TOUR ***

If my grandfather's letter had stopped at the comma, I would have tossed it in the trash... only the last three words mattered. If you can. That passed for please, in the old man's way of talking... If you can scared me a little.

Meet Van Shaw - soldier, ex-con - as he returns to his native Seattle after a decade's self-imposed exile. Answering voices from his past, he finds a whole heap of trouble, and himself the prime suspect in the brutal attack on his grandfather. Drawn back into the violent, high-stakes life he tried to leave behind, he has to try and see right from wrong amid the secrets and resentments of those he was once closest to.

Think Boston crime think Dennis Lehane, think Washington DC think George Pelecanos, think LAthink Michael Connelly - and now, think Seattle think Glen Erik Hamilton

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Past Crimes by Glen Erik Hamilton.  Past Crimes is published in paperback by Faber & Faber on 5 March 2015, and is the author's debut novel.

Tar abhaile, mas feidir leat.

This was the last sentence in the letter that Van Shaw received from his grandfather Dono. Written in Irish Gaelic, the language of Dono's childhood, the words after the comma said so much.

Come home, if you can.

Van Shaw hasn't been home to Seattle for many years, over ten years in fact. When Van left to join the US Army, he didn't leave on the best of terms. Dono was a career criminal who taught Van every trick of his trade. Van turned his back on a life of crime and has his career in the Army has taken him to dangerous places, he's seen and experienced many things.

'If you can' are the three words that tell Van that Dono is serious. Despite hearing nothing for ten

years, he knows his grandfather well enough to realise that something is not right and his fears are proved correct when he arrives at Dono's house. Dono is seriously injured, he's been shot, and whoever shot him has only just left the house.

Van is determined to find out who shot Dono, and why. Nowadays Van is a law-abiding citizen, serving his country, but his old skills are still there, and nobody knows how Dono operated better than Van. 

What follows is a story that catches the reader up very quickly. Van gets caught up in the seedy underworld again, getting reacquainted with faces that he'd always thought he had left behind.

As the action rattles along at a very fast pace, the author has interweaved Van's early years into the story, using old diary entries that let the reader know more about his background. From these, we also find out more about Dono's more recent years, and the reasons why events have happened.

Throughout Past Crimes, Van battles with loyalties; to his grandfather - the man who raised him, but who has always existed on the wrong side of the law; and to the Army - where he has shone, and made a new and better life for himself. 

This is a great thriller. Glen Erik Hamilton can certainly write a story that hooks, and has created a cast of characters who, although decidedly dodgy, are human and strong. The Seattle setting is vividly portrayed, with the seedy underworld and the characters that populate it taking lead roles.

A native of Seattle, Glen Erik Hamilton grew up aboard a sailboard and spent his youth finding trouble around the marinas and commercial docks and islands of the Pacific Northwest. He now lives in California with his family, and frequently returns to his hometown to soak up the rain.

To learn more about Glen, please visit his website.

Follow him on Twitter @GlenErikH

No Name Lane by Howard Linskey

The hunt for a serial killer unearths an unsolved cold case from over sixty years ago.

Young girls are being abducted and murdered in the North-East. Out of favour Detective Constable Ian Bradshaw struggles to find any leads - and fears that the only thing this investigation will unravel is himself.

Journalist Tom Carney is suspended by his London tabloid and returns to his home village in County Durham. Helen Norton is the reporter who replaced Tom on the local newspaper. Together, they are drawn into a case that will change their lives forever.

When a body is found, it's not the latest victim but a decades-old corpse. Secrets buried for years are waiting to be found, while in the present-day an unstoppable killer continues to evade justice...

No Name Lane by Howard Linskey will be published by Penguin on 12 March 2015 in paperback.

No Name Lane is a long book, it runs to almost 500 pages, but despite the length, it is an accessible, quite simple story.

Set in the North East of England, in a fairly average, if a little run-down, ex-mining village, this is the first instalment in a new crime series that fans of Peter Robinson and Stuart MacBride will enjoy.

DC Ian Bradshaw is a young, troubled copper. He's out of favour with the top brass of the force, and with his colleagues. There is a serial killer on the loose, he targets young girls and the investigating team have no leads, and no ideas. Bradshaw is desperate to work on the case, but instead, he finds himself on the outskirts of the team, concentrating on trying to discover the identity of a recently uncovered skeleton. It's clear that this is an old case, and Bradshaw despairs of finding anyone in the village who can shed light on a murder that took place sixty years ago.

Tom Carney is in a similar place to Bradshaw. A local who left to work as a journalist on a tabloid newspaper in London, he too finds himself excluded from his team. He made a huge mistake, and has returned to his old stomping ground to nurse his wounds.
Tom soon finds himself caught up in both the current investigation and the decades old murder. Teaming up with local reporter Helen, Tom is determined that this story will be the one that proves to his editor that he really is a great journalist.

Howard Linskey has created a fast-moving and intricate story. The plot moves at a fast pace, throwing up surprises and unexpected discoveries at every turn. His characters are well drawn, if a little predictable in this genre; with the troubled detective and the well-worn journalist with issues of his own.

The North East setting is described so well, with the bluntness and wry humour of the people of the region expertly woven into the dialogue.

Gritty, with an intriguing plot; No Name Lane is a great start to this new series, I look forward to reading more about Bradshaw and Carney in the future.

My thanks to Real Readers who sent my copy for review.

Howard Linskey is the author of the David Blake series, the first of which The Drop was selected as one of the 'Top Five Crime Thrillers of the Year' by The Times and the second, The Damage, was also in The Times as a 'Top Crime & Thriller Summer Reads'. 

Originally from Ferryhill in County Durham, he now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and daughter.

For more information check out his website www.howardlinskey.com
Follow him on Twitter @HowardLinskey