Monday, April 13, 2015

Another Night, Another Day by Sarah Rayner


Paperback: 408 pages
Genre: Contemporary  Fiction
Publisher: Picador 2014
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentences: Prologue: Johnnie struggles to open the heavy metal door of the clinic without dropping the stack of files he has clutched to his chest.

Review Quote: 'Carefully crafted and empathetic' Sunday Times
My Opinion: 
A realistic look at mental health issues



A realistic look at mental health issues. In a note from the author she informs the reader that she wanted to write this novel having had first-hand experience of anxiety and depression.

She feels that because the problems of mental illness are very real and painful that mental health should be taken as seriously as physical health. Too often sufferers are told to pull themselves together or snap out of it. This is often because the symptoms are just not visible, but also hard for any of us to talk about. Mental health problems are problems that normal people like you and I suffer from.

Although this novel is not exactly a sequel to One Moment, One Morning it does continue the story of some of the Brighton based characters met previously. This time one of the main characters is a man, but there is an overlap with Karen, Anna and Lou as they have featured previously. The protagonists are just normal people but they happen to meet in a psychiatric clinic, Sarah Rayner has hopefully made understanding mental illness a little easier to understand by writing about it in this way.

Although the story stands perfectly alone it does pick up the character Karen's life, almost two years after the fateful train journey from Brighton to London. Along with the other two main characters Michael and Abby the three of them are suffering tremendous tensions in their lives. Karen's father is dying, Abby has an autistic son, whilst Michael is about to become bankrupt. It is whilst attending Moreland's Psychiatric Clinic that they get to share their secrets with each other, sharing the low points of their lives, whilst on the road to recovery.

Three ordinary people leading seemingly ordinary everyday life's until something tips them over the edge.  They could so easily be you, me or someone we know, as each and every one of us is vulnerable, a thought provoking read. 
Sarah Rayner is a writer that tugs at your heart strings, an author definitely worth reading.


My review of her début novel  One Moment, One Morning can be read here

Author Profile


Sarah was born in London and spent her childhood years in Richmond, Surrey, becoming a punk with spiky hair. After studying English at Leeds University she returned to London and started a career in fashion PR.  Her boss suggested she was better at writing than impressing clients, suggesting she became an advertising copywriter. Taking his advice she then spent  ten years in various London agencies, before  turning freelance, got some short stories published by Woman’s Own, and for many years combined life as an author and copywriter.  Sarah and her partner Tom now live in Brighton along with her teenage stepson who joins them at  weekends.

More biographical information can be found here

Photographs and biographical information courtesy of the following sites.

Author's Official Website   Amazon Author Profile   Goodreads - Author Profile


Sarah Rayner - Facebook Profile   Twitter Profile  Instagram - The Creative Pumpkin

Thursday, April 2, 2015

A Well-Tempered Heart by Jan-Philipp Sendker


Paperback: 388 pages
Genre: Romantic Fiction
Publisher: Polygon 2014
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentence: 'The deep blue morning sky was clear as a bell the day my life lurched off course'.
Favourite Quote: ''Not all truths are explicable and not all explicable things are true'',he once told me.
Review Quote: 'This is the kind of stunningly perfect novel that changes lives' --Claire Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author
My Opinion: .A sensitive and beautifully told story

I have been looking forward to reading this sequel to the touching love story that was 'The Art of Hearing Heartbeats' and it certainly has not disappointed me. The author has written a novel that will entertain and also make you think about the very meaning of our modern life style as it mixes Eastern and Western cultures. I was truly transported back to the wonderful country of Burma/Myanmar as I was in the previous novel.


A sensitive and beautifully told story about the protagonist Julia's quest for happiness, as despite a successful career as a lawyer she has much unhappiness in her private life. Niggling questions about her lifestyle play on her mind, leaving her feeling mentally and physically exhausted. With the help of a girl friend Julia decides that she should return to her father's homeland of Burma, which she had last visited ten years previously. Reunited with her half brother U Ba, she sets out to find answers to her many questions about life and love, that are manifesting themselves as voices in her head. Julia is very disturbed and it is some time before she reveals her worries to her brother. His way of helping her is to take her to visit a village elder and have her listen to the tragic story of her sister. An uncertain future, certain death and a tale of woe that gets under Julia's skin but helps her in her own search for peace of mind.

I found the romantic spiritualism in this book moving but if you are at all sceptical you may find this aspect of the story spoils the novel for you. Read with an open heart for this is a truly moving and sensitive tale, set in a place I have found to be as magical as it sounds on paper in real life.


My review of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats can be read here




Author Profile






Biography/Interview Courtesy of Amazon 

Jan-Philipp Sendker, born in Hamburg in 1960, was the American correspondent for Stern from 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. In 2000 he published 'Cracks in the Great Wall', a non-fiction book about China. 'The Art of Hearing Heartbeats' is his first novel. He lives in Berlin with his family.

*Can you describe your book in 10 words or fewer?
A story about the magical power of love.
*Where did the idea for the book come from?
Very often people ask me how I got an idea. I always say: The ideas get me. I seriously don't know where they come from. That is part of the magic and mystery of being a novelist. Writing for me is like an adventure, a journey I take myself on hoping to learn and discover new things along the way.
*The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is your first novel. Have you always wanted to be a novelist?
Yes. Even as a thirteen year old school boy it was my dream to become a novelist. I wrote poems and started at least ten different novels when I was a teenager, never got beyond page 20. Discouraged I took a break for almost twenty years and started writing The Art of Hearing Heartbeats when I was 37 years old.
*Which writers do you think influenced you?
Many. Among them are Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Albert Camus, Arundhati Roy, Thomas Bernhard.


The biographical information and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites, where you can also find more information about the author and his writing.


Amazon Author Profile    Goodreads Author Profile    YouTube - The Art of Hearing Heartbeats


Jan-Philipp Sendker - Official Author Website