Paperback: 198 pages Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: Chatto and Windus 2012 Source: My Bookshelves First Sentence: The strangest thing about my wife's return from the dead was how other people reacted. Favourite Quote: “That was one of the worst things about losing your wife, I found: your wife is the very person you want to discuss it all with.” Review Quote: "Deeply rewarding novel about grief and hope, infused with gentle humour" (Sunday Times) Main Characters: Aaron Woolcott, Dorothy Woolcott Literary Awards: Andrew Carnegie Medal Nominee for Fiction (2013), International DUBLIN Literary Award Nominee (2014) My Opinion: I have read a few of Anne Tyler's novels, but have never reviewed any before as it was prior to setting up this blog. I actually read this one back in 2016, from my old notes I liked this one but did not have any particularly strong feelings. The story is basically about the protagonist's journey through the grief process and adjusting to life after his wife died. This exploration of loss I found difficult to cope with at times, despite reading it a few years after my husband died. Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: Anne Tyler gives us a wise, haunting, and deeply moving new novel in which she explores how a middle-aged man, ripped apart by the death of his wife, is gradually restored by her frequent appearances—in their house, on the roadway, in the market.
Crippled in his right arm and leg, Aaron spent his childhood fending off a sister who wants to manage him. So when he meets Dorothy, a plain, outspoken, self-dependent young woman, she is like a breath of fresh air. Unhesitatingly he marries her, and they have a relatively happy, unremarkable marriage. But when a tree crashes into their house and Dorothy is killed, Aaron feels as though he has been erased forever. Only Dorothy’s unexpected appearances from the dead help him to live in the moment and to find some peace.
Gradually he discovers, as he works in the family’s vanity-publishing business, turning out titles that presume to guide beginners through the trials of life, that maybe for this beginner there is a way of saying goodbye.
A beautiful, subtle exploration of loss and recovery, pierced throughout with Anne Tyler’s humor, wisdom, and always penetrating look at human foibles.
Author Profile:
Anne Tyler was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 25th 1941 and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Breathing Lessons and many other bestselling novels, including The Accidental Tourist, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Saint Maybe, Ladder of Years, A Patchwork Planet, Back When We Were Grownups, The Amateur Marriage, Digging to America and The Beginner's Goodbye. In 1994 she was nominated by Roddy Doyle and Nick Hornby as 'the greatest novelist writing in English' and in 2012 she received the Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence, which recognises a lifetime's achievement in books. In 2015 A Spool of Blue Thread was a Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for both the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize. Her latest novel, published in 2018 is Clock Dance. Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites. Amazon Author Page Facebook ProfileAnne Tyler - Goodreads Profile
Paperback: 280 pages Genre: Romantic Thriller Publisher: City Fiction 2013 Source: Publishers First Sentence: Matthew Orlando Buckingham, obviously known as 'Mob', was angry, very angry. Main Characters: DCI Sarah Rudd, Matthew Buckingham, Jessica and Nick Rudd. Setting: England
My Opinion: This was Tony Drury's fourth novel which I am ashamed to say I read in 2016 and never got round to publishing my review, for which I apologise. I have always enjoyed his writing and 'A Flash of Lightning' was no exception. An exciting and enjoyable read, with an insight into the London financial world, some good plots. The references to The Great Train Robbery of 1963 were particularly interesting to me as I remember being fascinated by this robbery when it took place, I was just 11 years old! Recommended to those that like some romance mixed with intrigue.
My Previous Reviews for Tony Drury's Novels: Megan's GameThe DealCholesterolNovella Nostalgia Series Précis Courtesy of Back Cover: Jessica agrees with her mother; it's time she had a baby.
She's given up looking for the right father.
City financier, Matthew has raised £6 million to make a film.
Now it's gone missing and his neck is on the line.
DCI Sarah Rudd has learned that there are terrorists planning to murder 400 people. She doesn't know where or how and now her brilliant career is threatened.
Will DCI Rudd uncover the terrorist plot in time to save the nation? Who has taken the film money? Will Matthew find the love o his life and a new mother for his daughter? And why is The Great Train Robbery on everybody's mind?
Paperback: 365 pages Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: Vintage 2011 (Originally published 2007) Source: Tywyn Public Library First Sentence: On the coach, Lev chose a seat near the back and he sat huddled against the window, staring out at the land he was leaving: at the fields of sunflowers scorched by the dry wind, at the pig farms, at the quarries and rivers and at the wild garlic growing green at the edge of the road. Favourite Quote:"He’d never seen a rain quite like this so gentle that it seemed barely to fall yet slowly laid its shine on the bay leaves and hydrangea flowers…” Review Quote: "Filled with emotional richness, complex sensibility and a passionate insistence of the humanity of the poor" Sunday Times. Main Characters:Lev, Lydia,Christy, Rudi, Ina, Maia, GK Ashe.
Setting: England and Eastern Europe Literary Awards: Orange Broadband Prize For Fiction 2008.
My Opinion: The Book Club read this whilst I was away and because of recommendations from the others, I have decided to read. After the discussions at our last meeting, I was intrigued.
Well why did I not read this in 2007 when it was first published I will never know. Better late than not at all as I thoroughly enjoyed The Road Home, it is an intense read and beautifully written, full of vivid descriptive passages. A sad and believable storyline about the trials and tribulations of an immigrant in contemporary London.
This is only the second title by Rose Tremain that I have read to date, however I will certainly be reading more if I get the opportunity. If you have not already discovered this author and you are a fan of literary fiction then I highly recommend her writing. Link to my Review of Trespass. Précis Courtesy of Goodreads: Lev is on his way to Britain to seek work, so that he can send money back to eastern Europe to support his mother and little daughter. He struggles with the mysterious rituals of 'Englishness', and the fashions and fads of the London scene. We see the road Lev travels through his eyes, and we share his dilemmas. Video Trailer for ' The Road Home' Courtesy of YouTube
Courtesy of Hibrow Rose Tremain reads an extract from the novel. Author Profile:
Rose Tremain, born in London in 1943, was one of only five women writers to be included in Granta’s original list of 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 1983. Her novels and short stories have been published worldwide in 27 countries and have won many prizes, including the Sunday buy cheap bactrim Express book of the Year Award (for Restoration, also shortlisted for the Booker Prize); the Prix Femina Etranger, France (for Sacred Country); the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award (for Music & Silence) and the Orange Prize for Fiction 2008 (for The Road Home). Restoration was filmed in 1995 and a stage version was produced in 2009. Her latest novel is the acclaimed The Gustav Sonata which sees Rose ‘writing at the height of her inimitable powers’ (Observer). Rose lives in Norfolk, England with the biographer, Richard Holmes. She is the mother of one daughter, Eleanor and has two grandchildren, Archie and Martha. She was made a CBE in 2007 and in 2013 was appointed Chancellor of the University of East Anglia. Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites. Goodreads Author ProfileRose Tremain - Official Author WebsiteYouTube Video Amazon Author Page
Paperback: 296 pages Genre: Literary Fiction Publisher: Penguin, Random House 6th September 2018 Source: LoveReading Consumer Reader Review Panel Member First Sentence: I was taking a pee in the bathroom when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Favourite Quote: I believed in the impact of previous existences on every day I was alive; in more excited moments I came to think that the membrane of death was semi-permeable. Review Quote:‘The most impressive novelist of his generation’ Sunday Telegraph Main Characters: Hannah and Tariq Setting: Paris and Tangier My Opinion: There is no doubt that Sebastian Faulks is a talented writer of literary fiction and I have at different levels enjoyed all the novels I have read by him. This one as the title Paris Echo hints at is full of the echoes of the history of Paris. The two main characters that meet quite by chance are from very different backgrounds, Hannah is an educated historian and aware young lady, whereas Tariq is her opposite a rather naive young man who knows nothing of the history of Paris. Immersing myself in their parallel stories was easy as through their voices and those of the people that Hannah was researching we learn how the dilemmas we live through reflect on our life choices. Recommended to anyone that is a fan of Sebastian Faulks writing or interested in history of the period as both people and place come alive as one reads.
I have read the majority of his novels, six of which I have previously reviewed, I am including the links to them for those of you that might be interested. Devil May CareEnglebyHuman TracesA Week in DecemberA Possible Life Where My Heart Used To Beat Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:
Here is Paris as you have never seen it before – a city in which every building seems to hold the echo of an unacknowledged past, the shadows of Vichy and Algeria.
American postdoctoral researcher Hannah and runaway Moroccan teenager Tariq have little in common, yet both are susceptible to the daylight ghosts of Paris. Hannah listens to the extraordinary witness of women who were present under the German Occupation; in her desire to understand their lives and through them her own, she finds a city bursting with clues and connections. Out in the migrant suburbs, Tariq is searching for a mother he barely knew. For him, in his innocence, each boulevard, Métro station and street corner is a source of surprise.
In this urgent and deeply moving novel, Faulks deals with questions of empire, grievance, and identity. With great originality and a dark humour, Paris Echo asks how much we really need to know if we are to live a valuable life. Video Trailer for 'Paris Echo' Courtesy of YouTube/Waterstones
Author Profile:
Sebastian Charles Faulks CBE was born in Donnington, England on April 20th 1953 He is a novelist, journalist, and broadcaster who is best known for his historical novels set in France — The Girl at the Lion D'Or, Birdsong, and Charlotte Grey. He comes from an interesting family background as can be read in this biographical profile.
He is the son of Pamela (Lawless) and Peter Ronald Faulks, a Berkshire solicitor who later became a judge. He grew up in Newbury. His mother was both cultured and highly strung. She introduced him to reading and music at a young age. Her own mother, from whom she was estranged, had been an actress in repertory. His father was a company commander in the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, in which he served from 1939 to 1946. He saw action in Holland, France, Tunisia, Italy (at the Anzio landings), Syria and Palestine. He was wounded three times and awarded an immediate MC after an action against the Hermann Goering Parachute Troops in North Africa in 1942.
His maternal grandfather, Philip Henry Lawless, enlisted in the 1st Battalion, 28th county of London Regiment, otherwise known as The Artists' Rifles in 1914, and served in trench warfare on the Western Front until 1917, when he moved to the 26th Battalion Middlesex Regiment and finished the war in Salonika. He was decorated several times and received the Military Cross in 1918, the standard Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the 1914 Star. He eventually left the Army and returned to work as a wine merchant - his father's original occupation.
His paternal grandfather, Major James Faulks (Major was his name, not a military rank) was an accountant who had previously worked as a schoolmaster at a private boarding school in Tunbridge Wells, while Major's provisions merchant father, William Robert Faulks, supplied dairy products in late Victorian Paddington.
Faulks' father wanted him to become a diplomat. He claims his first ambition was to be a taxi driver until at the age of fifteen, while reading George Orwell, he decided to become a novelist instead. In fact, he is the only member of his paternal family not to be a lawyer; his father and uncle were judges and his brother Edward is a QC specialising in medical negligence.
Faulks was educated at the fee-charging Wellington College and studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he won an open exhibition and to which he was elected an honorary fellow in 2007. He took a teaching job at the Dwight-Franklin International School after university while also moving into journalism, becoming a features writer for the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, and was recruited by the Independent as Literary Editor in 1986. He became the Deputy Editor of the Independent on Sunday before leaving in 1991 to concentrate on writing. He has been a columnist for The Guardian (1992-8) and The Evening Standard (1997-9).
He continues to contribute articles and reviews to a number of newspapers and magazines and to broadcast regularly. He wrote and presented the Channel 4 series Churchill's Secret Army, about the wartime Special Operations Executive (SOE), screened in 1999. Faulks is a team captain on BBC Radio 4's literary quiz The Write Stuff.
Faulks lives with his wife, Veronica (formerly his assistant at The Independent), and their three children William, Holly and Arthur . He works from his study in a top floor flat of a house near Holland Park Avenue, ten minutes from his home, starting work at 10am and finishing at 6pm, regardless of whether he is writing a book or not.
He was appointed a CBE in the Birthday Honours List 2002 for "services to Literature" and he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1994.
Faulks supports West Ham United. He writes about this in "Upton and Other Parks," a contribution to the 1990 football book Saturday's Boys.
An update of this Biography can be found on his Official Author Website Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.
