Broken Light by Joanne Harris

 

                                              

Hardback:  420 pages

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Publisher: Orion 2023

Source: Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: The first seven years of my life are a blank. I don't remember a thing before that. Most children remember something of their early years, but not me.

Review Quote:   'Blazes with anger and sorrow' MARIAN KEYES

My Opinion: Having been a fan of this author for many years I was looking forward to reading ‘Broken Light’. Joanna has I think a very individual style of writing that in my opinion doesn’t compare to anyone else, that I have read anyway.

‘Broken Light’ is a cruel story about the invisibility of middle aged women. The menopausal protagonist has paranormal tendencies which makes for an intriguing and at times terrifying read.

Strong and emotionally driven characters built around some important current issues in modern society discern this recommended read. A great choice for some lively Book Club discussion.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Bernie Moon is feeling invisible. She's given her life to other people - her husband, her son, her mother, her friends (not that she has any of them left). At 16, she was full of promise and power. Now, facing 50, she's a fading light.

But when a young woman is killed in her local area, it sparks childhood memories of a talent she used to have, one long since hidden.

She said she'd never use it again.

She knows it could destroy not only her, but everyone around her.

Bernie Moon is no longer invisible, but is everyone else ready for what she's about to become?

 

Author Profile:

Goodreads  Author photo.

About Joanne Harris (courtesy of her official website)

Joanne Harris (OBE, FRSL) was born in Barnsley in 1964, of a French mother and an English father. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Cambridge and was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels, including Chocolat (1999), which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche .

Since then, she has written 19 more novels, plus novellas, short stories, game scripts, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays, a stage musical (with Howard Goodall) and three cookbooks. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, has honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, and has been a judge for the Whitbread Prize, the Orange Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Betty Trask Award, the Prima Donna Prize  and the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science, as well as for the Fragrance Foundation awards for perfume and perfume journalism (for which she also received an award in 2017). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

She is a passionate advocate for authors’ rights, and was the Chair of the Society of Authors (SOA) for four years. She is currently a member of the Board of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).

Her hobbies are listed in Who’s Who as: “mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion of the system”, although she also enjoys obfuscation, sleaze, rebellion, witchcraft, armed robbery, tea and biscuits. She is not above bribery and would not necessarily refuse an offer involving perfume, diamonds,  foreign travel or pink champagne. She works from a shed in her garden, plays in the band she first joined when she was 16, and lives with her husband in a little wood in Yorkshire.

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 her writing. 

Amazon Author Profile - Joanne Harris    Official Website - Joanne Harris  

 Goodreads Author Profile

Casanova and the Faceless Woman by Olivier Barde-Cabucon

Paperback: 380 pages.                                                                                                 
Genre: Historical Thriller
Publisher: Pushkin Press March 2019 ( First published as 'Casanova et la femme sans visage' in 2012
Source: The publishers in return for an unbiased and honest review.
First Sentence: Night swarmed through the streets of Paris, casting its black veil over the carriage standing motionless in the middle of the deserted thoroughfare.
Favourite Quote: 'Truly, there is entertainment in everything!'
Review Quote: 'A splendid mystery with an appealingly enigmatic protagonist, plenty of melodrama and intrigue, and a vivid, pungent evocation of a turbulent time' -- Guardian
Main Characters: Volnay, (The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths) and Giacomo Casanova.
Setting: Paris, France.
Literary Awards: Prix Sang d'Encre for Crime Fiction in 2012
My Opinion: Not a novel I would have chosen to read had I not been given the opportunity to read and review by Pushkin Press. However I have very eclectic tastes and like to be pushed outside of my comfort zone, in this case I found it worthwhile. Set in and around Paris in 1759, there is lots of excitement to keep the reader interested with conspiracy and spies around every corner as Volnay does his utmost to solve this case in his position as The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths. A position that is not popular with the Paris police chief as he reports directly to the King, despite once being a rebel himself.  A quality read, the author and translator have produced a very descriptive period thriller.
This is the first in a series to be translated from the French by Louise Lalaurie Rogers for Olivier Barde-Cabouchon. I believe more of his novels will be translated if his writing proves to be popular with English readers of this genre.
Certainly to be recommended for fans of historical thrillers looking for new authors to read.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

A chilling mystery set amidst the glamour and squalor of pre-Revolutionary Paris

THE OLD WORLD IS CRUMBLING
1759: Outside the gates of the magnificent Versailles palace, the city of Paris sits mired in squalor and crime. One night a young woman's body is found with ghastly mutilations that shock onlookers to the core.

SPIES ARE ALL AROUND
The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths begins investigating this macabre outrage, but the clues he uncovers draw him into a deadly web of intrigue, and bring him face-to-face with notorious adventurer and seducer, Giacomo Casanova.

A SECRET STRUGGLE RAGES
As a second butchered corpse is discovered, the Inspector finds his life in grave danger and his revolutionary past exposed. Can he navigate between the factions secretly warring for power and find a way to the truth?



Author Profile: 

Olivier Barde-Cabuçon is a French author and the creator of The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths, who has featured in seven bestselling historical mysteries so far. Casanova and the Faceless Woman won the Prix Sang d'Encre for crime fiction in 2012 and is the first of the series to be translated into English.



Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Goodreads - Author Page     Translator - Louise Lalaurie Rogers   Amazon Author Page

Olivier Barde-Cabucon - Facebook Page

A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby

Paperback: 271 pages.

Genre:  Murder Mystery Fiction.
Publisher:  Short Books Ltd (2 Jan 2014)
Source: Tywyn Public Library.
First Sentence: That neglected triangle, where the Camden, Holloway and Caledonian  Roads intersect, long oppressed by sot and the continuous rumble of the railway, its bounds set by the gloomy bulk of the women's prison and the desolation of the empty Livestock Market, had been done for long before the Hitler War blasted every last vestige of respectability to smithereens.
Review Quote:  "Brilliantly evoked" --Sunday Times
My Opinion: Well written but not one for me.


A novel I only read because it was a Book club choice, which I think may have been picked because the author had a deep pride in her Welsh farming roots. After all we are a Welsh based book club group. Murder stories are not a genre I read very often and if I do read one I prefer it to be a psychological thriller. No surprise then that I did not really enjoy this, although it is well written but not one for me, I actually found the Introduction and background information I have since read about Sian Busby much more interesting, than the novel itself. Setting my personal opinion aside, 'A Commonplace Killing' portrays the London of the postwar era really well, the character portrayals felt realistic as I was drawn into their world.


The protagonists all seem to lead a dreary life, lacking in love or humour, not surprising I suppose considering the conditions in post war London in 1946. Crime and corruption were rife and the future was not looking a happy one for any of them. The female protagonist is Lillian Frobisher whose story unfolds in parallel stories of the events leading up to her death and the investigation of her murder. Lillian Frobisher a local wife and mother is found on waste land near her home. When it is discovered that she was not the unwilling victim of a sexual assault, the investigation turns closer to home.

It is a sad story even more so when you bear in mind that the woman writing this novel, knew her own days were numbered. Somehow one just feels this is reflected in the writing, especially the whole pessimistic attitude surrounding the case. What do I mean, well you will have to read the novel to find out the details.

If murder stories are a genre you enjoy then this is worth reading for its realistic and dark truths.


Author Profile

Photo: ANDREW CROWLEY

Siân Elizabeth Busby (19 November 1960 – 4 September 2012) was a British writer. The daughter of the Canadian actor Tom Busby and Wendy Russell, she was educated at Creighton School in Muswell Hill and read English at Sussex University.
Originally embarking in a career in arts television, she later switched to writing. Her first two books were non-fiction. A Wonderful Little Girl (2003) concerned a Welsh child whose apparent ability to survive without nourishment led doctors to term the condition anorexia while The Cruel Mother (2004) was a semi-autobiographical account of child murder by one of Busby's ancestors. McNaughten (2009) concerned a mentally unstable 19th century woodcutter who was accused of attempting to assassinate Sir Robert Peel. 
Sian Busby was diagnosed as suffering from lung cancer in 2007, despite never having been a smoker. She finished her last book, ' A Commonplace Killing', shortly before she died. The book, describing the investigation into the murder of a woman in post-war London, was published in May 2013 and featured as BBC Radio Four's Book at Bedtime in June of the same year. Married to Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, with whom she had a son. They had known each other since their teens, but rekindled their relationship after her friend, Peston's sister Juliet, was hospitalised after a road accident. Previously she had married and been divorced from the Dutch film maker Kees Ryninks, with whom she also had a son.

Obituary Daily Telegraph where much more can be learnt about her.

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 her writing.

Goodreads - Author Profile   Daily Telegraph    Sian Busby - Wikipedia

Fighting The Devil by Jeannie Walker

Ebook: Kindle (336 pages)
Genre: Murder True Story
Publisher:  iUniverse 2010
Source: The author in exchange for an unbiased review.
First Sentence:  From the Introduction 'There was a time when the millionaire rancher, Jerry Sternadel, gave all the orders.'
My Opinion:  A Heinous True Story

Jeannie Walker and her family needed closure and publicity for this tragic event and I admire her for deciding to write a book about it.  An extremely personal memoir of events in which she lays bare her deep religious feelings and views about the 'devil'. It is this honesty that gave the story enough impetus for me to keep reading, as really it was not something I would have picked up had I not been asked to do so by the author.


I do believe the story needed relating but I am not convinced Jeannie was the right person to document it as I felt her emotional involvement made it hard for her to write this as a factual account. At times it felt almost too repetitive as I kept reading the same facts again and again. In some ways I wonder if it would have made a far better read if she had completely let go of her emotions after stating the basic facts and turned this true account into an amazing thriller. For if you did not know this was a true story that is exactly how you would view it as a story showing the dark side of human nature that comes from authors imaginations. Well not this time this is scarily real.


Goodreads Synopsis:
A Texas millionaire rancher discovered his wife and bookkeeper had stolen thousands of dollars from him. After he demanded the money back, he started getting sick. While in the hospital, doctors were mystified as to how an otherwise healthy, energetic man could become so deathly ill. The dying man told everyone within earshot that his wife and bookkeeper were killing him. The man's wife said her husband was hallucinating from drugs the doctors were giving him. The millionaire rancher succumbed in the hospital while strapped down to his bed with restraints on his hands and feet and tubes in every orifice. After the rancher died, an anonymous caller tipped off the police. The widow was the sole beneficiary of the estate and a $350,000 life insurance policy. A week before the man's death, a teenager visited the rancher's home and became deathly ill after he drank juice that was in the rancher's refrigerator. Two years after the millionaire's death, a bottle of arsenic was found in a storage locker rented by a woman under an assumed name. The millionaire's ex-wife, the mother of his children, became a sleuth to help solve the murder. No one could have predicted the aftermath with its strange twists and unexpected results.


A true story of consuming passion, deadly poison and murder and worth reading to learn just how the American Justice System dealt with this heinous crime.


                                                Fighting The Devil Book Trailer

This short video will give you a scary preview!

                                          Uploaded by AuthorVideo on 3 Aug 2010




Author Profile (Reproduced from Amazon Author Profile Page)

First and foremost, I want to thank you, my readers, for choosing my books over many others that are available to you. I am sincerely grateful that you've chosen my stories to read. I want everyone to know that you are not alone in your struggles, and you have the ability to overcome and the right to become your loved one's advocate, if it becomes necessary. I am truly indebted to you, my readers, for your generous support, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I believe the secret to success and happiness is believing in God and giving thanks accordingly.

I am pleased to announce my debut true crime book "Fighting the Devil" was selected as 2010 Book of the Year Silver Awards Winner in True Crime by ForeWord Magazine and 2011 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in True Crime. I am an Award Winning Author, Award Winning Songwriter and freelance writer. I studied creative writing in New York and Connecticut. I am a member of the International Association of Writers.

Honors and Awards for my true crime book, "Fighting the Devil"
2011 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in True Crime.
2010 ForeWord Magazine Finalist Book of the Year True Crime.
Awarded 5* Review from ForeWord Clarion Reviews
Awarded: Reader's Choice
Awarded: Editor's Choice

The biographical information, video and photo used in this post are with thanks to the following websites.


YouTube   Authors Official Website    Amazon Author Profile Page   Goodreads - Fighting The Devil