Tag: contemporary fiction

You are dying. Who do you kill?

Set in a near-future America, an America that has borne two terms of Trump Presidency and is now in the first term of Donald’s daughter as president, Frank Brill, a retired small-town newspaper editor, lives in a world where the populist policies Trump is currently so keen to pursue have been a reality for some years and are getting even more extreme – an erosion of abortion rights, less and less gun control, xenophobic immigration policies.

Frank, a good man, has just been given a terminal diagnosis. Rather than compile a bucket list of all the things he’s ever wanted to do in his life, he instead has at the ready his ‘fuck-it list’. Because Frank has had to endure more than his fair share of personal misfortune. And he has the names of those who are to blame for the tragedies that have befallen him.

But eventually, as he becomes more accustomed to dishing out cold revenge and the stakes get higher and higher, and with a rogue county sheriff on his tail, there only remains one name left at the bottom of his fuck-it list.

John Niven was born in Irvine, Ayrshire. He is the author of the novella Music from the Big Pink and the novels Kill Your Friends, The Amateurs, The Second Coming, Cold Hands, Straight White Male, The Sunshine Cruise Company, No Good Deed and Kill ‘Em All.

My thoughts:

This is a strange book, set in near future America where Ivanka Trump is President and life is horrible for many people, Frank Brill decides to take revenge on the five men who he feels wronged him and his family over the years.

It’s a jarring read, where you find yourself feeling sorry for a serial killer on his cross country mission before the cancer kills him.

Dark and unsettling, with a vision of the future I really hope doesn’t come to pass.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

Meet Greta.

She’s funny.

She’s flawed.

She’s hiding so much behind her big smile she’s forgotten who she is.

But Greta is about to discover that the key to being happy is…being you.

Greta Gale has played the part of the funny fat one her entire life, hiding her insecurities behind a big smile. But size doesn’t matter when you can laugh at yourself, right? Until Greta realises she’s the only one not laughing. And deep down, she’s not sure if she’ll ever laugh again. But with her world feeling like it’s falling down around her, Greta is about to discover she’s stronger than she feels. And that sometimes the best moments in life come when it’s all gone a bit pearshaped…

Carmel Harrington is an internationally published novelist from Co. Wexford, where she lives with her family. She has published seven novels and been shortlisted twice (2016 & 2017) for an Irish Book Award. Her books have captured the hearts of readers worldwide and are published in eight languages to date. She is co-founder of The Inspiration Project and was Chair of Wexford Literary Festival from 2015 – 2018.

My thoughts:

This was a charming, sweet, funny read. The cast of characters are relatable and realistic, I really like Greta and Billie. Uncle Ray was a total sweetheart too.

Funnily enough my Nan’s maiden name is Gale so I felt some kinship with Greta and her love of The Wizard of Oz.

A book with a lot of heart, it reminds you that while life can be tough and there are struggles ahead, you have to do your best to live your best life.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

At the school gates, there’s no such thing as yesterday’s news . . .

When Liza’s little boy has an accident at the local health club, it’s all anyone can talk about.

Was nobody watching him?

Where was his mother?

Who’s to blame?

The rumours, the finger-pointing, the whispers – they’re everywhere. And Liza’s best friend, Sarah, desperately needs it to stop. Because Sarah was there when it happened. It was all her fault.

And if she’s caught out on the lie, everything will fall apart.

Rebecca Thornton is an alumna of the Faber Academy Writing A Novel course, where she was tutored by Esther Freud and Tim Lott. Her writing has been published in The Guardian, You Magazine, Daily Mail, Prospect Magazine and The Sunday People amongst others. She has reported from the Middle East, Kosovo and the UK. She now lives in West London with her husband and two children. The Fallout is her third novel.

My thoughts:

This is a story about guilt, secrets, gossip and why we should be honest with our friends.

Sarah ties herself in knots trying to do the right thing without admitting her own mistake, all the time convinced its someone else’s fault really.

The women at the centre of the story go round in circles, never fully knowing the others, never fully understanding the lives and pain hidden behind the facade of middle class success.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

Patrick, the first Irish Pope, discovers he is intersex and finds himself pregnant.

Maggie Hamand’s Virgin & Child grips onto this wild premise and runs from there. This isn’t a book about miracles.

Maggie is a journalist, has a science degree, and what happens in the novel is within the realm of the possible.

Virgin & Child is alternate history, that lets the reader expand their sense of what is credible. What gives this novel true bite is how real it feels.

Maggie grew up as what her era called a tomboy, and gave birth to three sons. She worked and campaigned for women’s fertility rights. She has also studied theology and this book began as a PhD in that subject, before she changed to creative writing. ‘I found the theology PhD too constricting, and felt that only by writing fiction could I fully explore the issues I wanted to tackle,’ says Hamand. ‘I felt that only through an imagined direct and bodily experience could a celibate Pope understand a woman’s experience. I hope that by reading the novel others will identify with the character and be shocked into a new understanding.”

Like works by Brian Moore, Graham Greene, Robert Harris and Piers Paul Reed, the novel reads as a gripping thriller while at the same time tackling questions of religion, faith and gender.

What makes Virgin & Child different is that it’s not written by a man. Did a mother conceive the notion of a virgin birth? Probably not. Mothers know the act of creation is all too human and messy. This novel takes a Pope, God’s elect on Earth who tradition says has to be a man, and feminizes the whole concept.

How would that alter a male worldview?

Virgin & Child gives an answer as an act of searing storytelling.

Maggie Hamand is a journalist, novelist, and creative writing lecturer. She was the first winner of the World One-Day Novel Cup and her novel, The Resurrection of the Body, was published by Penguin and has been optioned for film and television. She was founder and director of the award-winning independent publisher Maia Press. Maggie has a degree in biochemistry, a Masters in theology, and a PhD in creative writing from the University of Hull. She has taught in a range of institutions including Holloway Prison and is author of the best-selling Creative Writing For Dummies. She lives in East London.

My thoughts:

This is somewhat strange novel, with a pregnant, intersex Pope, trying to keep his secrets and somehow carry out his very public role.

Lyrical and full of philosophical questions which Pope Patrick struggles with along with his personal concerns.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

A year ago, Charlie’s life seemed to be following a plan: she had a beautiful house, a lovable dog and an upcoming wedding. But she felt trapped. A few months before the big day, ignoring the warnings from her family, she abandoned her life and fled to the other side of the world in a bid for freedom.

But when her mother unexpectedly falls ill, Charlie has to cut her trip short. She flies home, but by the time she gets to the hospital, it’s too late.

Her mother is gone, but she’s left a mystery behind. Why did she buy a canal boat, and where did the money for it come from? As Charlie attempts to work through her grief and pick up the pieces of her life, she follows the threads of her mother’s secret past – but has she missed her chance to learn the truth?

Amazon Waterstones Hive

Sarah Jasmon lives on a canal boat near Manchester with her children. She has had several short stories published, is curating a poetry anthology, and has recently graduated from the Creative Writing MA course at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Twitter Instagram Website

My thoughts:

This is a gentle meditation on grief and secrets. Charlie’s inheritance sofa narrow boat her mother kept a secret, and the web of secrets it holds about her mother’s life slowly begin to unravel as Charlie looks into the past and learns about her mother’s history.

Evocative and moving, this is an enjoyable and comforting read, perfect for curling up on the sofa.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.