Author Archives: sandradan1

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About sandradan1

Novelist. I blog about writing, reading and everything to do with books and writing them at http://www.sandradanby.com/. Come and visit me!

#BookReview ‘Inflicted’ by Ria Frances #WW2 #holocaust

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Theo is sixteen, and unhappy. He stumbles into the life of an elderly neighbour, Anna. Together they share their secrets and Anna, by telling the story of her own life as a teenager, helps Theo face up to his difficult emotions. Inflicted is the debut novel of English author Ria Frances and, despite the unflinching approach to a difficult subject, is I think aimed at teenagers. Ria FrancesIt tells the story of Anna, a teenager in the Second World War, on the run with her parents from the German army. Her mother dies and Anna is separated from her father as they are taken to Theresienstadt, the city-turned-ghetto run by the Nazis. Anna’s story of hardship is a difficult emotional read, the author does not sweeten the hardships, but the central message is one of hope, courage and love amidst suffering.
I wanted to know how Anna’s story ended, even though the adult Anna was telling her own story, because I was curious about her journey from the Czech village of Lidice, to Theresienstadt, Berlin and finally to Sussex in 2010. Curiously, it was Anna’s story which drew me on not Theo’s.
I found the ending rather rushed and difficult to follow, perhaps in the author’s effort to tie-up all the loose ends. But I don’t mind some loose ends at the end of a novel, it leaves the story fresh in my mind and gives me something to consider.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Little Red Chairs’ by Edna O’Brien
‘The Bone Church’ by Victoria Dougherty
‘All The Broken Places’ by John Boyne

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview INFLICTED by Ria Frances http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1q8 via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘Kings and Queens’ by @TerryTyler4 #family #romance

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Kings and Queens is the first novel by Terry Tyler that I have read. It is the rollicking story of property developer Harry Lanchester. A property developer you may think, hardly your usual hero type? But he is not just any Harry, he is King Henry VIII updated to modern times. Terry TylerI started reading this after a heavyweight novel and in need of light refreshment, having already started then discarded one book on my Kindle after two pages. This provided the page-turner my weary brain required, the story race along and is an ideal read for holidays, a long train or plane journey, or just when you want to cosset yourself.
If you like Tudor-set novels, you will have fun with this. It is easy to work out that that Cathy is Catherine of Aragon and Annette Hever is Anne Boleyn, but I enjoyed recalling my Tudor history – and reading of Philippa Gregory novels – to work out the Tudor equivalent of the modern characters. Of course, as we know the story of Henry and his wives, we can work out what happens to Harry and his, though Tyler puts a modern twist on each story that draws you in. I found myself comparing her writing style to the ultimate page-turner Jilly Cooper. I wonder if Ms Tyler has written about polo?
Just one small criticism: I found the beginning a bit underwhelming and almost stopped reading, I am glad I didn’t.

Read my review of LAST CHILD, second of the two Lanchester books by Terry Tyler.

If you like this, try:-
‘Dark Aemilia’ by Sally O’Reilly
‘The Other Eden’ by Sarah Bryant
‘The Fair Fight’ by Anna Freeman

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview KINGS AND QUEENS by @TerryTyler4 via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1yT

Great opening paragraph 67… ‘American Psycho’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“Abandon all hope ye who enter here is scrawled in blood red lettering on the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First and is in print large enough to be seen from the backseat of the cab as it lurches forward in the traffic leaving Wall Street and just as Timothy Price notices the words a bus pulls up, the advertisement for Les Misérables on its side blocking his view, but Price who is with Pierce & Pierce and twenty-six doesn’t seem to care because he tells the driver he will give him five dollars to turn up the radio, “Be My Baby” on WYNN, and the driver, black, not American, does so.”
Bret Easton Ellis From ‘American Psycho’ by Brett Easton Ellis

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘After You’d Gone’ by Maggie O’Farrell
‘To Have and Have Not’ by Ernest Hemingway
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #FirstPara AMERICAN PSYCHO by Brett Easton Ellis via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-10w

 

#BookReview ‘Girl Runner’ by Carrie Snyder #contemporary #mystery

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I was unsure what to expect of Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder. I chose it because in my youth I was a runner and the story premise intrigued me, unusual for a novel.  It is fiction based on a real event. The key fictional character, the ‘girl runner,’ is Aganetha Smart. She wins the gold medal at the 1928 Olympics for the ground-breaking Canadian team of female athletes. Carrie SnyderThe historical setting is real and is a fascinating glimpse into the barriers which women faced in 1920s and 1930s Canada and society’s attitudes to the strength, ability and success of women. But this novel is not just about athletics, it is the story of Aganetha’s life, of the child who liked to run and how a random chance allowed her to train with a running coach. Eventually she won her gold medal at the Amsterdam games. This is a book about the growth of a girl into a young woman, and from a young woman into an old one, lugging with her the memories, guilt and secrets of her childhood. Running colours Aganetha’s life, her character, and her approach to problems.
For Aganetha, running is everything. When feeling troubled as a child, she runs. When feeling trapped as an elderly woman, she pulls on her running shoes and goes out into the fresh air. Running is at the core of her character, but is she running to win, to be a champion, or to run away? When, in her forties, she is asked where she wants to be, she replies without hesitation, “running”.
We cannot understand Aganetha without the story of her family, she is the child of her father’s second marriage and so the home is full of step-siblings. Perhaps the novel would have benefitted from less siblings, sometimes too many characters can clutter the narrative and at times the story jumps around a bit in time. The detail in which the rural life of this family is told – with the mother who cares for distressed girls, and the father who builds a lighthouse in the field – reminded me of Jane Smiley and Anne Tyler.
At the end of the book we find the answer to a secret from Aganetha’s youth: this mystery is so subtly handled that I missed the first clues, so the solving of the mystery fell a little flat. There is also a second line of narrative involving two young people who arrived unannounced at Aganetha’s care home and take her back, in her wheelchair, to the country home where she grew up. For a long way through the book the relevance of this storyline was unclear, but it becomes clear at the end.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

If you like this, try:-
‘Paper Cup’ by Karen Campbell
‘The Lie of the Land’ by Amanda Craig
‘Somewhere Inside of Happy’ by Anna McPartlin

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview GIRL RUNNER by Carrie Snyder http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1yN via @SandraDanby

#BookReview ‘The Ship’ by Antonia Honeywell @antonia_writes #dystopian #adventure

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London. An alternative world in which resources have almost run out. This is the world of The Ship by Antonia Honeywell. Antonia HoneywellSixteen-year old Lalla lives in a sheltered world managed by her parents. Her time is spent in safety, in their flat, or wandering the corridors of the British Museum, anything to avoid the danger, the shortages, the violence of this alternative London. People without homes camp in public buildings and parks, but they are a drain on the scant resources and are bombed, murdered in the name of preserving resources for the few who are ‘registered.’ If you don’t have a card, you don’t exist, cannot get food or shelter.
Lalla has never eaten a fresh apple, and she begins to dream about what a real apple feels like, tastes like. On ‘The Ship’ she finally is given an apple. But like most things on The Ship, the apple is not what it seems. Lalla’s childhood has been governed by her parents’ political arguments, how best to make a life for Lalla, punctuated by her father’s mysterious disappearances. He is building something, gathering things, people, but Lalla does not know what.
Until the day arrives when her father takes a decision for the family and takes them to The Ship. An actual ship which he has bought and over ten years has fitted out with stores and everything needed to support the hundreds of people he has selected: for their skills, creative talents or bravery. He has chosen everything, anticipated everything.
The book really takes off when Lalla boards The Ship and tries to unravel the truth of what The Ship is, where it is going, and what is on the fourth floor. They eat tinned apple and powdered egg, read books on their ‘screens’ and discard their memories and grief in order to live in the now. It is a tale of growing up, of unpalatable truths, of shaking off the illusions of adolescence and being brave enough to stand up for yourself, to make your own decisions not governed by your parents. It is green-eyed Tom who gives the apple to Lalla, but why? And what does Lalla choose to do?
The ending will make you gasp.

If you like this, try:-
‘Sweet Caress’ by William Boyd
‘The Queen of the Tearling’ by Erika Johansen #1TEARLING
‘In Ark’ by Lisa Devaney

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE SHIP by Antonia Honeywell @antonia_writes via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1y6

#BookReview ‘A Spool of Blue Thread’ by Anne Tyler #contemporary

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What do you think of when you think of novelist Anne Tyler? For me, it is The Accidental Tourist, Breathing Lessons, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. It is quite a list. So I enjoyed the anticipation of reading her latest, A Spool of Blue Thread. What do I expect? Family, no-one writes about family like she does. Anne Tyler I became wrapped in the story of Abby and Red Whitshank and their four children Denny, Stem, Jeanie and Amanda. Abby was the character that fascinated me, we see her first as a mother in 1994 when Red takes a strange phone call from Denny who is living who knows where. They don’t know whether to believe Denny, whether to worry about him, Abby tries to empathize, Red says there is such a thing as being ‘too understanding’. And so the Whitshank story slowly unfolds like a dropped spool of blue thread running across the floor. We hear the story of Red’s father, Junior, a carpenter, who built the house Abby and Red now live in, we hear about Linnie Mae, Red’s mother and her love affair with Junie. The history of this family is in their bones, and in the bones of the house where they live. But Abby and Red are getting old now, and managing in this large house is becoming fraught with incident.
Anne Tyler dissects the structure of the family, how they become who they are, how the memories and misunderstandings from childhood and adolescence filter through to adulthood and shape mature viewpoints. And how all of this affects the Whitshanks’ relationships with each other, and the outside world.

Read my reviews of these other books by Anne Tyler:-
CLOCK DANCE
FRENCH BRAID
LADDER OF YEARS
REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD
VINEGAR GIRL

And read the first paragraphs of:-
DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT 
BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWN UPS 

If you like this, try:-
‘A Thousand Acres’ by Jane Smiley
‘Housekeeping’ by Marilynne Robinson
‘My Name is Lucy Barton’ by Elizabeth Strout

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD by Anne Tyler via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1xH

#BookReview ‘The Lightning Tree’ by Emily Woof #contemporary

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The Lightning Tree by Emily Woof is the twin story of Ursula and Jerry. Emily WoofUrsula grows up in a house of mirrors and though she tries to avoid looking at her reflection, she cannot. So it is apt that she is the chameleon of this story, changing her appearance, her style, her clothing, so that as the years pass she seems a different person.
Ursula lives in Jesmond, a nicer area of Newcastle, and through her childhood she passes close to Jerry, who grows up in a flat at the rougher Byker Wall. When they do meet, there is a connection. Their lives run in parallel, twisting and turning, sometimes together, other times far apart.
It is a love story, and an un-love story. How it is to fall in love as an adolescent and then see that love challenged into maturity, changing priorities, changing values, changing circumstances. Jerry, his nose always in a book, goes to Oxford and seems destined for politics. Ursula, less academic, goes to India where she undergoes something of a ‘Marabar Caves’ experience which is not really explained and which I still didn’t understand at the end of the book.
Interwoven with Ursula and Jerry’s stories is that of Ursula’s Ganny Mary, her rural Lancashire upbringing, and how her life was affected by the death of her father and the change in her mother Annie who had her own ‘Marabar Caves’ experience, up Pendle Hill in Lancashire.
There’s no doubting the energy in this book, but I did find the storyline confusing, there are so many surplus characters who we never really engage with, and Ganny Mary never ages. It is an enigmatic book, but one which I struggled to really grasp.

If you like this, try:-
‘Himself’ by Jess Kidd
‘Foxlowe’ by Eleanor Wasserberg
‘The Lost Girl’ by Sandu Manganna

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview THE LIGHTNING TREE by Emily Woof via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1wL

#BookReview ‘An Uncertain Place’ by Fred Vargas #crime

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If you ever hear anyone say ‘plog’, then you know they have read An Uncertain Place. Totally different to any other crime novel I have read, this is my first by Fred Vargas and will not be my last. Fred VargasIt is the tale of fear, passed on from one generation to the next. Inevitably the tale is embroidered a little along the way, misinterpreted, but still half-believed. Believed enough to act on it, to prevent the fabled terror from continuing.
The trail starts in London: shoes are found outside Highgate Cemetery, with the feel still inside them. Next, two gruesome murders. Many unrelated strands come together and finally the pieces fall into place in a tiny wooded village in Serbia.
This is my first Commissaire Adamsberg book. I love discovering a new author, knowing there are many books just waiting to be read. Fred Vargas has created a quirky policeman – I particularly liked Adamsberg’s relationship with his one-armed Spanish neighbour Lucio.
Plog.

If you like this, try:-
‘Snow White Must Die’ by Nele Neuhaus
‘The Killing Lessons’ by Saul Black
‘Wilderness’ by Campbell Hart #1Arbogast

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview AN UNCERTAIN PLACE by Fred Vargas http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1sC via @SandraDanby 

#BookReview ‘Midnight in Europe’ by Alan Furst #thriller #WW2

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1938. Spain at war, Europe on the brink of war. Midnight in Europe by Alan Furst is the first World War Two novel I have read about the overlap of the two wars, the impact of one on the other, and the approaching shadow of fascism. Nothing happens in isolation. The Spanish Civil War is notoriously difficult to understand: so many factions, changing names etc. Sensibly, Furst concentrates on one aspect: the supply of weapons to the Republicans fighting the fascist army of Franco. Alan FurstA secret Spanish agency in Paris sources arms and ammunition for the Republicans. Cristián Ferrar, a Spanish lawyer living in Paris and working for a French law firm, is asked to help. Unsure what he is getting into, but resigned to help his mother country, he is soon looking over his shoulder to see if he is being followed – he doesn’t know who by, it could be the Spanish fascists, the Gestapo, the Russians. Inter-cut with Ferrar’s story are excerpts from the front line in Spain where preparations are being made to fight the Battle of the Ebro. The need for the weapons is desperate, as bullets are counted out for each soldier.
Working with an odd mixture of diplomats, gangsters and generally shady characters, Ferrar first travels to Berlin where there is a glimpse of the pre-war country which with hindsight gives us a chill. The Gestapo follows them at every step. Then there is a nail-biting train journey to Gdansk, as an arms shipment goes missing. The climax is a thrilling boat journey from Odessa to Valencia. Ferrar, is a lawyer not a spy, he is simply an ordinary man doing what he can to help. An ordinary man who is, meanwhile, having a sprinkling of love affairs which may or may not be authentic.
If you have been put off before at reading novels about the Spanish Civil War because the politics is confusing, you will enjoy this novel. The shadow of war in Europe is cast over every page, the sense of approaching doom however does not seem to affect the nightclubs of Paris, or the shops of New York where the cheerful atmosphere seems unreal. Ferrar faces moving his family from Louveciennes on the outskirts of Paris, the picturesque country west of the capital which was painted by the Impressionists, to the safety of New York.
This is the first novel by Alan Furst I have read, picked up at random in an airport bookshop. I will read many more.

Read my review of A HERO IN FRANCE, also by Alan Furst.

If you like this, try:-
‘Citadel’ by Kate Mosse
‘A Hero in France’ by Alan Furst
‘Dominion’ by CJ Sansom

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#BookReview MIDNIGHT IN EUROPE by Alan Furst http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1ct via @SandraDanby

Great Opening Paragraph 66… ‘Animal Farm’ #amreading #FirstPara

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“Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicking off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs Jones was already snoring.”
George OrwellFrom ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell

Read this #FirstPara from 1984, also by George Orwell.

Try one of these #FirstParas & discover a new author:-
‘Queen Camilla’ by Sue Townsend
‘Middlesex’ by Jeffrey Eugenides
‘Herzog’ by Saul Bellow

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#Books #FirstPara ANIMAL FARM by George Orwell via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-kL