Showing posts with label British fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label British fiction. Show all posts

Jan 29, 2013

Dearest Rose by Rowan Coleman


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB; choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify author and title for readers. 

First Chapter,  First Paragraph is hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea.

My teaser this week is from Dearest Rose by Rowan Coleman
Published September 22, 2012 by Arrow Books

Genre: contemporary British fiction





Dearest Rose, Our meeting, though brief, has stayed with me and I wanted to write and thank you for your  hospitality when I came to see you a few days ago. You didn't have to be so kind to a stranger turning up, unannounced, but you were and I am so grateful. Although you were not able to help me find the painting, everything you told me about your father was both fascinating and heartbreaking. Why is it, I wonder, that artists are so often capable of creating such beauty whilst doing such harm to themselves and others? I hope that one day you will perhaps be able to reconcile with him and find the answers to all of our questions.
Publisher's description: When Rose Pritchard turns up on the doorstep of a Cumbrian B&B it is her last resort. She and her seven-year-old daughter Maddie have left everything behind. And they have come to the village of Millthwaite in search of the person who once offered Rose hope.

Almost immediately Rose wonders if she's made a terrible mistake - if she's chasing a dream - but she knows in her heart that she cannot go back. She's been given a second chance - at life, and love - but will she have the courage to take it?

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

Sep 7, 2012

Book Feature: Gold by Chris Cleave


Title: Gold by Chris Cleave
Hardcover, July 3, 2012; Simon and Schuster
Genre: fiction

I'm reading Gold, a novel about Kate and Zoe, two friends in England who are also rival Olympic speed cyclists. Zoe is single and Kate is married with a sick child, Sophie, which limits the time Kate can spend on track cycling. So far, Sophie seems to be just as important a part of the story as the two women.
" Look, Zoe. You've done all the hard work. You've made it to the final. Your worst-case scenario here is to be the second-fastest rider on the entire planet. The very worst thing that could happen in the next ten minutes is that you win an Olympic silver medal."
"Exactly."
"You're scared of getting silver?"
She thought about it, then nodded. "I'd rather fucking die." (page 6)
About the author: Chris Cleave studied at Balliol College, Oxford. His debut novel, Incendiary, won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award and is now a feature film. His second novel, Little Bee, is an international bestseller. Cleave lives in London with his family.

May 30, 2012

Book Review: Ninepins by Rosy Thornton


Title: Ninepins by Rosy Thornton

Sandstone Press Ltd (2012), Paperback, 320 pages
Genre: fiction
Source: review copy from the author
Rating: 4.5/5

About the book: Laura Blackwood is a divorced mother of a preteen, 12-year-old Beth, both living in a house outside of Cambridge, England where Laura is a university researcher.  Though Beth is asthmatic, they live in the fens - low marshland that has been drained but which sits on surface water, is almost always soggy, and easily flooded. Laura is called on by a social welfare worker to take in a roomer, 17-year-old Willow, who is a ward of the state, so to speak, with specific problems of her own.

How Laura copes with two somewhat unpredictable young people, one physically and the other emotionally, in a physical environment that is also unpredictable, is the main theme of the novel, as I see it.

 My comments: The book is set in the fens in Eastern England, an area that's not familiar to me, so the setting of the book, in a house above a dike or ditch with deep water, and on wetland reclaimed from marsh, is part of the intrigue of the book. There is danger all around for Laura, and I became invested in the outcome of her story. Her daughter is asthmatic, which means the wet fens is not an ideal place for them to live. The house is also on the outskirts of Cambridge, relatively isolated. Her daughter Beth has to be driven to or from school or has to take the bus and return home after dark in winter, walking a good way alone from the bus stop to the house.

On top of that, their new boarder or roomer, Willow, is an unknown teenager who had to be taken from her mother and placed in foster care while she was growing up. Now seventeen, Willow rents from Laura a former pump house which has been made into a separate and independent apartment below the house. There is heavy rain, flooding during the course of the novel. Willow's former life comes back to haunt her, or haunt Laura, the adult in the home.

So many things happen, including tensions between Laura and her ex-husband, Beth's father, who has a second wife and three young sons. Beth also demands more independence from her parents as she heads towards her teenage years.

 I began to really care about Laura and how she would handle and cope with the different situations that crop up, some of them pretty dangerous. I soon began to worry about Beth and Willow as well and thank heaven for the help of Willow's social worker, Vince.

 The mark of good writing - the reader begins to really care about the characters, as if they were real and as if they know them personally. With good descriptions of place, people, personalities, and social situations, I found the book very engaging and almost didn't want it to end. That's maybe why I thought the book ended a little abruptly, and felt readers needed more time to see how the four people would adapt to the outcome. Otherwise, an excellent book that I highly recommend.

Mar 23, 2012

Daughters by Elizabeth Buchan

Opening sentences in a novel can set the tone and help readers decide about a book. Here are the opening sentences for Daughters by British author Elizabeth Buchan.

Curious how much pleasure she took from saying, 'My daughter...actually my stepdaughter...is getting married.' It ran against the grain of her own experience but her pleasure was not to be underestimated...that visceral need to see a child settled.

She had got used to answering questions such as 'What sort of wedding?' and 'Do you like him?' (To the latter she would reply, 'Yes, I do.')
Did she like Andrew? The little she knew of him, yes. She could list the plusses :affable, well-mannered, liked a joke, normal. He was also - she was assured on all sides - brilliant at his banking job, and unusual because he was a man who took the long view.(ch. 1)
Title: Daughters by Elizabeth Buchan
Publisher: Penguin, paperback

Book description: It is a truth universally acknowledged that all mothers want to see their daughters happily settled. But when Lara begins to fear that her daughter Eve is marrying a man who will only make her unhappy, and her other daughter Maudie reveals something that shocks the entire family, Lara faces the ultimate dilemma. Daughters explores the impact of secrets and betrayal within a dysfunctional but loving family.

So, what do you think, based on the opening sentences?

Oct 19, 2011

Book Review: The Ugly Sister by Jane Fallon


Title: The Ugly Sister: A Novel by Jane Fallon
Publisher: Penguin (September 29, 2011), 448 pages
Rating: 4/5

'I've decided to go back to modelling,' Cleo says. 'After all, Kate and Naomi still work, so why shouldn't I? It's just that I've been away for a while so I need to get my face out there, show people that I've still got it. And if that means having to endure a few go sees then...'

'Gosh. Good for you.'
The Ugly Sister is a study of sibling rivalry, a novel that does an excellent job of exploring and developing this theme. Told from the point of view of Abi, the younger sister who has grown up overshadowed by her older sister, the book is a character study as well as a novel of late fulfillment and finally realized dreams. It drags just a bit towards the second half of the book but overall it was an enjoyable read and I highly recommend it.

Plot summary:
When Abi gets an invitation from her older sister Cloe to spend the summer at her home in London, Abi isn't sure what to make of it. The sisters have not been close since Cloe left home at age 16 to pursue a modeling career. Now Cloe has a family - a successful husband and two little girls, ages 10 and 7 -  and wants to revive her modeling career.

Abi soon begins to suspect that the self-absorbed Cloe only invited her to act as a nanny for the two girls while she goes off on photo shoots and appointments. Cloe's frequent absences from the house brings Abi closer to Cloe's husband Jon and the two girls, and Abi soon has an attack of conscience when she finds herself becoming more and more attracted to Jon. She is horrified when she realizes Jon reciprocates her interest.

Abi's intention has all along been to renew her friendship and her family relationship with her older sister. Abi has always considered herself the "ugly ducking" in the family and her sister Chloe the beautiful swan. Abi tries to discuss their childhood with Cloe, tries to rediscover the girl who used to be her sister Carolyn before Carolyn's name change to the more glamorous "Cloe". Is it too late for the sisters to reunite and be as close as they used to be as children?

About the author: Jane Fallon is a British television producer and novelist. Her book Foursome was nominated for a Melissa Nathan Award. This is her fourth novel.

A complimentary copy of this book was sent to me by Penguin Books.

© Harvee Lau 2011

Sunday Salon: Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson

  Books reviewed Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson, July 31, 2024; BooksGoSocial Genre: thriller , family drama Themes: reflectiv...