M L Stedman

I can see why this is a best seller.  

The Light Between Oceans

Amazon.com link

My review -

The book is set in Australia after the first World War. Tom, who has had a difficult war, takes up the job of lighthouse keeper as he feel he wants to save lives now. He marries the bright and lively Isobel and they settled on the remote island of Janus – the light between oceans of the title. After two devastating miscarriages and a stillbirth, Izzy is burying her latest dead child when she hears the cry of a baby. A little girl washes up in a small boat with her dead father and her mother’s cardigan and Tom, slave to duty, wants to log it. Izzy wants to bury the father and keep the baby, seeing it as a gift from God. After their three year term, when they get shore leave, they discover that the mother didn’t drown. The choice they made has fulfilled their lives but devastated hers.

This is the most fantastic book and will be one of my books of the year, for which I thank my local book group who chose it. It’s so beautifully written that the reader’s opinion swings from one person’s view to another. The characters are real and their dilemma affects one trusting little girl. It’s a gripping conflict between duty and love, loyalty and honour, and the rights of a blood mother to bring up her own child. Tom and Izzy are in pieces because of their humanitarian choice. It’s a stunning story and I heartily recommend it.

Mark Tilbury

This is a difficult read involving abuse of teenagers but stick with it. It's horrible but it has to be faced.

The Abattoir of Dreams

Amazon.com link

My review -

Michael Tate wakes in hospital to find he is paralysed from the waist down and suffering from the effects of a fractured skull. He is told by a policeman named Carved that he has killed his girlfriend and, as soon as he's sufficiently recovered, he'll go to a demand centre until his trial. Michael begins to suffer hallucinations and feels himself transported to his earlier life. His memory gaps are gradually filled in and he rediscovers the horrors of his childhood.

I've read an earlier book by the author but I feel he has really upped his game with this one. It's not an easy read and covers horrifying abuse. The reader feels Tate's despair and total lack of faith in his fellow man. He doesn't believe that justice will be done, either for himself or for those who suffered with him in a corrupt regime in a children's home. Mark Tilbury doesn't gloss over the grief and unfairness but pulls a wonderful ending out of the hat. A very good story which I enjoyed a great deal.

I received a review copy of this book.

Anita Waller

If you like a bit of spooky, this is for you!

Winterscroft

Amazon.com link

My review - 

This is a really gripping story, whether or not you believe in ghosts. Lavender, the younger of three sisters, died with her grandparents in a road accident when she was nineteen. Five years later, Matt, who was about to become her fiancé, is preparing to marry, and Rose, Lavender’s sister, offers the gardens of her home, Winterscroft, for the wedding reception. Soon things begin to go wrong. Sprigs, and the scent, of lavender presage inexplicable events in the lives of the two families. Lavender, it seems, is a restless spirit who won’t stop at harming, or even killing, to get her way.

I first came across the author’s work in an anthology and loved her graceful, fluent style. In this book, my only doubt, that a happy and loving girl would become malicious and spiteful after death, was explained in a way that grounded me in the story again. I read this book in under twenty-four hours. It’s that exciting! I’d love to see it made into a film. It gives an updated nod in the direction of the Dennis Wheatley books I devoured as a teenager. I know the area in which it’s set and the detail, together with the intimate lives of the families involved, kept the story from becoming too abstracted from real life. Highly recommended for a totally different kind of murder mystery.

Jim Webster

A great collection of Jim's blog posts about his farming life.

Sometimes I Sits and Thinks

Amazon.com link

My review - 

and sometimes I just sits.

This is a selection of anecdotes about life as a farmer in Cumbria. The writer grew up on his farm, and generations of his family before him farmed the land. You develop a real feeling for the land you are hefted to and this comes across in these stories. We hear of the cattle, the sheep, his succession of working dogs, the weather and the neighbours, in an amusing and chatty style as the snippets of Jim Webster’s countryman’s wisdom fall gently. I love this collection.

Steven Manchester

A new author to me, Steven Manchester has created a new kind of road trip with this book. It's darkly funny and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Ashes

Amazon.com link

My review - 

Brothers Tom and Jason Prendergast have been summoned to their late father’s lawyer’s office to be told that, unless they fulfil his wishes and scatter his ashes in Seattle, they may not inherit the contents of an envelope he’s left for them. The men, both in their fifties, have been at loggerheads for years. This looks like being the most uncomfortable road trip ever. The story moves between the present day and their constant bickering, back to their childhood, and scenes of the monstrous bullying their father subjected them to. They had each other, though, until things fell apart.

The relationship between the brothers, whose lives had taken such different paths, was initially very prickly and filled with animosity. As the story progressed, they reminisced and their relationship evolved. Their father’s final instruction brought them to the place of his choosing. At this point, they found something he’d kept from them since they were small. They found it almost too late.

The story had a lot of dark humour in it, which I enjoyed. I also loved the growing sense of trust between the warring brothers. The whole book had a kind of roundness to it, a fitness and a satisfying ending. Steven Manchester’s writing style suits this story which I enjoyed very much. Be aware that the story finishes at 81% of the book and you won’t be taken by surprise, as I was, by the end arriving when it did.

I received an advance review copy of Ashes.

Rachel Abbott

Rachel's a firm favourite author with me. Crimne, thriller, spychological fiction - they include something of all these categories.

The Sixth Window

Amazon.com link

My review - 

Natalie’s husband was killed by a hit-and-run driver and she has found a safe haven, with her fifteen year-old daughter Scarlett, in the home of his old best friend, Ed. It’s not long, though, before she begins to believe that Ed might have certain proclivities which make him a danger to her young daughter. Natalie and Scarlett move to an apartment which Scarlett hates. She can hear things which her mum can’t, and she’s afraid. She’d rather go back home to live with Ed.

This is a masterclass in tension from the queen of the genre. You can feel Scarlett’s frustration at being treated as too young to have her fears taken seriously. You can also feel Natalie’s genuine concern for her daughter and agree with the clues she has picked up on to bring her to that conclusion. In this story, however, the old adage of Trust No-one is the underlying theme. This is a scarily believable, tense and compelling thriller and it’s impossible to ration yourself to a few pages at a time. Go on. I dare you!

I received a pre-publication review copy.

Kate Hughes

This is a story for the younger element but it's a great read for any age.

Mr Brown's Suitcase

Amazon.com link

My review -

Jez lives with his two younger half-brothers, his mum and his stepdad, Steve. Steve drinks, Mum is scared of leaving the house and Jez is effectively bringing up the young ones on his own. He’s disruptive at school until the class gets a new supply teacher, Mr Brown.

This book is intended for young readers but it’s a lovely story for any age group. We see Jez facing the unfairness of life – his stepdad’s behaviour and the peer-pressure from older boys, wanting to look cool, hating to be seen to cry – all the things so important for an eleven year-old boy. It’s a story with great strength and hope and I really enjoyed it.