Tag Archive | Harper Collins

Aria’s Travelling Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin

Jun7

Serenely Beautiful

Aria’s Travelling Bookshop by Rebecca Raisin is the most delightful contemporary novel that I absolutely adored. It is the second book in The Travelling Shops series but can be read as a stand-alone.

This is a book about love, and grief, and life. It is a book about friendship, and travelling, and reading. It is a book that will completely take over your life for a few hours as you never want it to end.

We join the lead characters who live out of their camper vans, selling various items. The leading lady sells books and is passionate about them. She is incredibly easy to empathise with, with her love of reading, of browsing bookshops, and of sniffing books (who hasn’t?)

The reader follows the characters from busy London to the sunny, carefree South of France in Summer. We can almost ‘feel’ the heat, ‘see’ the landscape, and imagine the local food and wine.

Grief is a journey. “It’s a process… And the only way to get through it is to keep moving forward… But you can’t outrun grief.” Each person has to navigate grief in the best way they can. “I feel so robbed and bitter at the world. I try so hard not to fall down that dark hole but sometimes it just swallows me up.” Grief brings out many emotions – including guilt. Guilt at being alive and learning to live again. “Stop letting guilt drive you.” Guilt is a negative emotion and we need to cast it out.

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That Time Everything Was On Fire by Kerry Downes

May22

A Fabulous Debut

That Time Everything Was On Fire by Kerry Downes is a powerful contemporary debut novel that gripped me from the start.

This is a book about women, friendship and life. It is a roller coaster read as we celebrate the highs and lows of life. Life is a journey, and it is a journey that is better together, but there are some roads that we traverse alone.

The reader joins four female friends who are roughly thirty years old. The book is told through the eyes of lifelong friends Sam and Daisy. It is split into ‘Summer’ and ‘Winter’ over several years.

We see the extremely difficult road of infertility as we follow a character through several rounds of IVF. “Infertility is like a shadow of grief, shimmering in the background of every aspect of your life… And who can understand such an experience other than those forced to enter its dark vicinity.” Kerry Downes really speaks straight from the heart and of personal experience.

We witness the loneliness of the character who is excluded from events/conversations as her friends for fear hurting her. “Don’t decide for me what I’m capable of.” She is far stronger and more resilient than her friends think. “I don’t feel like a warrior. I don’t feel brave; I feel tired.” IVF takes its’ toll physically and mentally. “The endless roller coaster of hope, grief and uncertainty.” There are some absolutely heart-breaking scenes as well as those of love and support.

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Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Sutanto

Apr15

Everyone Needs A Vera Wong

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Sutanto is a fabulous contemporary cosy crime novel that I absolutely loved and read it in just two sittings. It is the first book in what I hope will be a very long series.

Vera Wong is a sixty-year-old Chinese mother living in San Francisco. She owns a tea house but most of the time it is empty. Her life is very regimented but lonely – until a dead body turns up in her tea house! Suddenly Vera Wong has a new lease of life as she investigates just what has happened. “People always say that your wedding day is the happiest day of your life, but honestly, people should try solving murders more often.” Vera Wong has found her raisin d’etre.

As the victim’s life opens up, Vera Wong meets new people. Each one had a reason to kill. Each one is a suspect. And each one is a new friend to Vera.

Vera Wong is a ‘feeder’. She cooks for and feeds everyone that she meets – including the police!

Vera Wong has good investigating skills as she notes, “generations of Chinese mothers have perfected the art of sniffing out guilt.” She also notes, “nobody sniffs out wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands.”

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Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective by Kelly Gardiner & Sharmini Kumar

Apr10

Reminiscent Of Jane Austen

Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective by Kelly Gardiner & Sharmini Kumar is a light-hearted historical novel that entertained me from the start.

Fans of Jane Austen will immediately recognize Miss Caroline Bingley from Pride & Prejudice. She is Mr Bingley’s sister. On page one of Pride & Prejudice we read a very famous word sentence, which opens this book, though slightly altered. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single lady in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a husband.” Straight away the reader realizes that we are in for a real treat. As with the original novel, this book is also witty and also pokes fun at the conventions of the day.

The novel is set at the beginning of the nineteenth century, just two years after Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy married Jane and Elizabeth Bennett.

Miss Caroline Bingley is very reminiscent of Elizabeth Bennett. She is intelligent & knows her own mind. She is also brave and with a social conscience. As a female she has to work within the constraints of the day as she sets about her amateur super sleuthing.

The reader travels from snowy Derbyshire to snowy London. It is here that Miss Caroline Bingley begins her search for Georgiana Darcy’s maid who has gone missing. Her maid is Asian and the reader sees the evils and prejudices of the day as the characters are a part of the evils of slavery. This is highlighted as the reader is introduced to the East India Company.

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