Review - The Returning Tide by Liz Fenwick

The Returning Tide by Liz Fenwick
Publisher: Orion
Release date: 23 March 2017
Rating: *****
Back cover blurb: Two sisters and one betrayal that will carry across generations . . . In wartime Cornwall, 1943, a story between two sisters begins - the story of Adele and Amelia, and the heart-breaking betrayal that will divide them forever. Decades later, the effects of one reckless act still echo - but how long will it be until their past returns? The Returning Tide will sweep you away to the beautiful Cornish coast, full of secrets and mystery, and will be loved by fans of Kate Morton and Rachel Hore.

The Returning Tide is the first of Liz Fenwick's novels I have had the pleasure of reading. I know she has written many more, but this one was recommended (and appealed) to me due to its historical setting.

 

The Returning Tide opens with limited information about something that is surely set to be hugely important to the novel. Some sort of betrayal has happened between Adele and Amelia, something unspeakable. The intrigue and tension is set for the story that follows.

 

Adele and Amelia are identical twin sisters, coming of age as World War Two breaks out. The War leads them both in different directions for the first time in their lives. Both become WRNS  or WRENs as they were more popularly known (Members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) and are given different postings.

 

Adele is posted away from Cornwall, she has never been away from her family or her sister, and she is scared, but excited to be undertaking an important, but sensitive and secretive assignment for the war effort. Amelia is remaining in Cornwall, her work equally important, but she remains close to her family.

 

The sisters write as often as time and the postal service will allow them, Amelia keeping Adele amused with her tales of beaus, and despairing of Adele's seeming inability to fall in love. It isn't that Adele doesn't want to fall in love, it's just that she isn't as confident as her sister and more importantly hasn't found the right man.

 

Running alongside this tale is a time slip story set in the present day with Lara nursing her dying Grandfather in Massachusetts. He never wants to talk about the war, but Lara is so proud of him looking at his photographs and documents on his death bed that she can't help but push him a little.

 

Her pushing leads her to Cornwall after his death, to discover exactly what he meant by mentioning a name she'd never heard before in his dying moments. Determined to find the truth, and discover if she may have family in Cornwall, Lara is unprepared for the treasure trove of family secrets that she is about to uncover.

 

I don't want to say too much more, so I'll just leave you with this - The Turning Tide is a beautiful novel, and Liz Fenwick now a firm favourite on my 'to read' list of authors.

 

The Returning Tide is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

 

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

  



Review - Between Sisters by Cathy Kelly

Between Sisters by Cathy Kelly

Publisher: Orion

Release date: 20 October 2016

Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: Sisters Cassie and Coco have been there for each other every since their mother disappeared when they were children. Responsible Cassie spends every moment trying to be perfect wife and mum, but can't help feeling she's getting it all wrong. Commitment-phobic Coco adores running her vintage dress shop - but since a disastrous break-up, her love life's become an antique. Their lives are full to the brim - so why do they both feel that something is missing? As the sisters try to find their way to lasting happiness, fate has a few surprises in store as the past makes a sudden appearance in the present . . .

I don’t think I’ve ever read one of Cathy Kelly’s novels before… I know, where have I been??

If I have it was years before I decided to bore you all senseless with my own thoughts about other peoples novels!!

Between sisters is a lovely novel about tested marriages, friendships and those oh so complicated family relationships that we all have deep inside of our own families but would deny outright to any outsider...

Between sisters is ultimately the story of Coco and Cassie Kenneally, abandoned by their Mother at a young age, both are now grown up; Coco a successful business woman with a beautiful vintage fashion shop and Cassie happily married with a family of her own; husband Shay, and daughters Lily and Beth.

But Cassie is afraid that Shay is going to abandon the family home for his Mother who is so dreadfully demanding since the death of her husband, Shay’s father. 

And Coco is still mourning the loss of Red her long term partner from who she has been separated for four years at her behest.

Is it their Mother’s departure that makes the Kenneally girls fear abandonment or does the course of true love never run as smoothly as we are led to believe?

Between Sisters is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Review: Shtum by Jem Lester

Shtum by Jem Lester
Publisher: Orion
Release date: 7 April 2016

Rating: ****
Back cover blurb: The most important things are the hardest to say. Ben Jewell has hit breaking point. His ten-year-old son Jonah has severe autism and Ben and his wife, Emma, are struggling to cope. When Ben and Emma fake a separation - a strategic decision to further Jonah's case in an upcoming tribunal - Ben and Jonah move in with Georg, Ben's elderly father. In a small house in North London, three generations of men - one who can't talk; two who won't - are thrown together. As Ben battles single fatherhood, a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons, he learns some difficult home truths. Jonah, blissful in his innocence, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history and misunderstanding are finally untangled. Powerful, darkly funny and heart-breaking, Shtum is a sotry about fathers and sons, autism, and dysfunctional relationships.

 

 

 

I'll be honest, I'm not sure where to start, what I can possibly say about this wonderful novel, that hasn't been said already... but I must try! 

 

Ben Jewell is a broken man, in all senses. He has a drink problem, an employment problem, a marriage problem, and a severely autistic son, Jonah, who the local authorities seem to want to fail.

He and his wife, Emma, desperately need the authorities to rethink their decision regarding Jonah's secondary school placement. When Emma suggests faking a separation, Ben is skeptical, but Emma is convincing and so he and Jonah move in with Ben's elderly father Georg.

To say that Georg and Ben have a difficult relationship would be underplaying the situation slightly, but for me, this is where we really get to the heart of the story as we see these three men, thrown together in a desperate situation, struggling for survival.

Shtum is a fascinating insight in to the struggle that millions of parents must face with their local authorities to ensure that the are getting the best education, help and care possible for their beautiful children.

Jonah is a silent voice throughout much of the novel, but we live him through Ben and Georg, and he is a wonderful, wonderful character enhanced by the love that his father so clearly has for him even in the most exasperating of times.

Shtum at time makes for difficult reading, but its subject matter is tackled sensitively, and its a novel that needs to be on everyone's 'to read' lists this year.

Shtum is available now from Amazon online and all good book shops.

     Many thanks to the publishers who sent me an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review: the Turning Tide by Brooke Magnanti

The Turning Tide by Brooke Magnanti

Publisher: Orion

Release date: 25 February 2016

Rating: ***

Back cover blurb: Erykah Macdonald has a nice life-the kind of life you're meant to want. But on her twentieth wedding anniversary, she's about to cross a line. Several hundred miles away in the shallow waters of a Hebridean island, a body is found. It's been in the water long enough to make identification tricky but it's clear this is no accidental death. Erykah knows she's about to make a choice you can't reverse - but she's lived with secrets most of her life - she thinks she's ready. The trouble is, there are far worse secrets than her own about to emerge. From the gurney of a morgue in the Highlands, to the media circus of the national press, and from the seemingly calm suburbs of London to the powerplays in Westminster, a net is tightening. And those that find themselves caught in are willing to kill to get out with reputations intact. Erykah must work out what she's capable of if she's going to keep her head above water-she must leave behind her comfortable life and start breaking rules. She knows she should be scared...but sometimes, stepping over the line is the first step to freedom...

The Turning Tide is an intriguing novel, a mixture of politics, crime and hidden secrets. Throw in a body and a surprise lottery win and you have the recipe for a great story.

Erykah Macdonald is on the verge of leaving her husband when he drops a bombshell that could see both of their lives change forever.

Perhaps just not in the way that either of them were anticipating...

Erykah has had a tough life, her past before meeting her husband was troubled. But that is nothing compared to the trouble that her husband has now found himself in.

Drawn into a situation that she can see no easy way out of Erykah begins to work with some less than desirable characters in order that they leave her and husband alone once and for all.

But the problem with some criminals is that they are merely the monkeys and the organ grinders are far more dangerous than you ever could imagine. 

As Erykah becomes more involved in a world that she knows next to nothing about, the danger increases.

Can she stop it all before someone gets seriously hurt?

Or is she already too late?

The Turning Tide is available from 25 February 2016.

You can pre-order it now from Amazon online and Orion.

  Many thanks to the publisher who gifted me with a copy of this novel!

Review: Summertime by Vanessa Lafaye

Summertime by Vanessa Lafaye
Publisher: Orion
Release date: 7 May 2015
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Florida Keys, 1935. Hurricane Season. Tens of thousands of black and white men scarred by their experiences of war in Europe return home to find themselves abandoned to destitution by the US government. The tiny, segregated community of Heron Key is suddenly overwhelmed by broken, disturbed men with new ideas about racial equality and nothing left to lose. Tensions flare when a black veteran is accused of committing the most heinous crime of all against a white resident’s wife. And not far off the strongest and most intense hurricane America has ever witnessed is gaining force. For fans of The Help and To Kill a Mockingbird, this is the story of the greatest tragedy you've never heard of.

Summertime is Vanessa Lafaye's gorgeous first novel. It is a debut that captures the period in time, and the location of the novel beautifully.

Summertime opens with Missy; Maid to the Kincaid family helping with preparations for the 4th of July barbecue.

Heron Key is a small town, where everyone knows everyone and secrets simply cannot be kept. But almost as soon as we meet her we learn that Missy has a secret that must be kept or she will most certainly lose her job.

Luckily she has Selma on her side, a woman who is desperate for her brother to return home finally and safely from WW1.

Henry Roberts is the apple of Missy's eye, but she hasn't seen him in years. He lives with the WW1 veterans out of Heron Bay in a makeshift camp that is barely fit for inhabitants.

When Roberts turns up to the 4th of July party, Missy doesn't know what to do. Should she tell him how she feels or will he still consider her to be the little girl he left behind before going to War?

The Veterans aren't exactly welcome guests at the party and soon tensions are running as high as the humidity. There is a storm on the way -  and not just in the meterological sense.

When Hilda Kincaid is found beaten nearly to death, suspicion immediately falls on Henry as he was the last person seen to be dancing with her. As the tensions rise and accusations fly, the barometer starts to plummet and the storm grows ever closer.

But nothing can prepare Heron Bay for what is coming. For far out over the Atlantic, the greatest storm ever to hit North America is heading their way...

Brutually honest, refreshingly so at times, Summertime is a debut that you won't want to miss. I can't wait to see what Vanessa Lafaye comes up with next.

Summertime is available to buy now from Orion online and all good book shops.

   

Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.