Dinah Jeffries – a Liz Robinson Author of the Month

Dinah is one of my favourite authors, she not only has the beautiful ability to paint pictures in my mind, she also conjures taste, evokes smells, and I feel, I …

The 2018 Fowey Festival of Art and Literature and Harriet Evans – A Guest Post by Liz Robinson

I recently attended the Fowey Festival of Art and Literature, as I waltzed down to the marquee where Veronica Henry was due to chat to Harriet Evans, the view stopped me in my tracks, simply gorgeous, could there be a better setting?

As a light breeze wafted in from the sea, Veronica introduced us and hosted the chat beautifully. Harriet had wanted to share the stage, to chat about both their books (A Family Recipe and The Wildflowers), but no said Veronica, this was about Harriet, and Veronica asked some searching and fascinating questions. Harriet worked in publishing (was Veronica’s editor) before she decided to write, her career nearly floundered when a faulty hard drive decided to destroy her first 30,000 words, yet she continued, and says that having to rewrite took the book to a better place.

Harriet believes that every book can be summed up in one line, that a central plait should sit through the novel, and that books need soul, to sit and be mellow, that a book takes time to mature. She can forensically pick apart her books, and is more than happy for an editor to be involved, her past experience as an editor enables her to join in the process rather than hinder it.

Veronica Henry with Harriet Evans at the Fowey Festival of Arts and Literature

Harriet spoke about the inspiration for her latest book The Wildflowers, she was on a beach in Dorset playing in the waves with her then three year old and wanted the perfect summer, a host of golden moments for her children to remember. She decided to write about the ideal holiday home, a pop-up book of ideas and photos grew until The Wildflowers was born. She adores the cover, the colours, the cushion on the seat inviting you to sit on the veranda…

Tony and Althea Wilde. Glamorous, argumentative … adulterous to the core.

They were my parents, actors known by everyone. They gave our lives love and colour in a house by the sea – the house that sheltered my orphaned father when he was a boy.

But the summer Mads arrived changed everything. She too had been abandoned and my father understood why. We Wildflowers took her in.

My father was my hero, he gave us a golden childhood, but the past was always going to catch up with him … it comes for us all, sooner or later.

This is my story. I am Cordelia Wilde. A singer without a voice. A daughter without a father. Let me take you inside.

And finally here is my review for The Wildflowers by Harriet Evans

The Bosky, a wonderful seaside holiday home sits centre stage in this story, comforting, embracing, helping you move from the Second World War through to 2015. We get to know, to care about, to love the Wilde’s, the sophisticated Tony and Althea and their offspring, their treasured and traumatic memories, what makes them tick, their secrets, their lies. This is a story that feels hugely worldly-wise yet also so very intimate, it travels through time, and takes you to the heart of emotions. Harriet Evans made every character matter to me, she covers the generations, from youngest to oldest beautifully, they also feel so very real, everyone is perfectly imperfect. As the story wrapped itself around me, I became consumed by each time span, only coming up for breath with each break in time, which in turn led to a new discovery. The Bothy travels with the Wilde’s, becoming as one with their story. I adored ‘The Wildflowers”, bittersweet, knowing, eloquently engaging and so very very satisfying… what a truly rewarding read this is.

Liz Robinson

The Wildflowers  by Harriet Evans was published by Headline in April 2018.

Find out more about Harriet Evans by visiting her website here.

 

John Sutherland – A Liz Robinson Author of the Month.

Liz Robinson knows a good book when she reads one and this month she has picked John Sutherland, as the author who has stood out and grabbed her attention. Over …

Matt Johnson – A Liz Robinson Author of the Month

Liz Robinson knows a good book when she reads one and this month she has picked Matt Johnson, as the author who has stood out and grabbed her attention with …

Last Letter from Istanbul by Lucy Foley – a guest review by Liz Robinson

Last Letter from Istanbul is the latest offering from Sunday Times bestselling author, Lucy Foley. Just gorgeous, this is a story to shine a light in the darkness, even in …

Come and Find Me by Sarah Hilary – a guest review by Liz Robinson

A big fan of Sarah Hilary, Liz feels ‘Come and Find me’ is her best novel yet. Simply superb, ‘Come and Find Me’ is one hell of a clever, twisting, …

The Devil’s Dice by Roz Watkins – a guest review by Liz Robinson

  Here Liz gives us the heads up on the start of a fantastic, thrilling new Crime series… The first in the ‘DI Meg Dalton Thriller’ series is an addictive, …

Blue Night by Simone Buchholz – a guest review by Liz Robinson

I have this on my tbr pile and I’m so excited to get to it – as you can see Liz absolutely loved it – here’s her review… This was …

The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard – a review by Liz Robinson

An absolutely cracking, and thrillingly creepy read.

Ten years after her first boyfriend Will confessed to five murders in Dublin and was imprisoned, Alison is still keeping the past at arms length. After several copycat killings, the Garda ask her to return home and speak to Will in prison, and Alison finds herself facing the past head on.

The first few intense pages set the tone, the words menaced and harassed my senses as they introduced an unidentified male. The chapters that follow are either headed Alison or Will, with the unidentified male occasionally making an appearance. Unsynchronised ‘then’ or ‘now’, keep you in the present or throw you into the past, and I was on high alert to the changes. Alison tells her own tale, allowing a deeper connection, I found myself uncertain and on edge, as more information from the past was released.

Catherine Ryan Howard fans the flames of tension, she strings a taut wire between the murders of then and now, until they start to collide and the ending hurtles towards you. The Liar’s Girl is so clever, so captivating, and fairly crackles with dramatic intensity, oh what a truly fabulous read this is.

The Liar’s Girl was published on the 1st of March by Corvus

 

Every Man a Menace by Patrick Hoffman – A review by Liz Robinson

Riveting, raw and gritty, this is a story that rockets around like a ball in pinball wizard’s championship run. Focusing on some of the players in a drug smuggling ring, this tale crosses oceans, and proves how cheap life can be when greed takes over. Patrick Hoffman’s first novel was shortlisted for the Crime Writer’s Association Ian Fleming (best thriller) Award, this is his second novel, and another winner. There is a real earthy feel to the writing, I felt as though I was balancing on a serrated edge, viewing the action from an external position, yet also completely in the moment. I could see humanity in action with the characters, could almost see their thoughts taking place, and feel their emotions. As the end came closer, and the snare grew ever tighter, so the story came full circle. Every Man a Menace is a chilling, short and sharp, utterly engrossing read, and I loved it.

Every Man a Menace is published by Grove Press on the 2nd March 2018