The Blurb (from Goodreads):
'Look first. Reach second. Vanish third.'
London, 1825: Eglantine has always had an eye for the shine. Born the same day as the young princess destined to be queen, Eglantine has an altogether different path ahead of her, strewn with the glittering waste of her father's ambitions. Her mysteriously prosperous father, Mr Amberline Stark, is a man of great expectations. He coaxes her to follow in his footsteps, making picking pockets a delightful parlour game which they play in their fine house by the Thames. Eglantine's life before her arrival at the house remains a mystery, her memories wrapped up in a small doll she keeps close to her, and with it the fragmentary recollections of her mother.
It is only when Amberline is caught and transported as a thief to the penal colony of Australia, that Eglantine has to grow up and fend for herself using her only skill. Reluctantly, the thief's daughter becomes a thief, until a chance meeting gives her a window on a new way of being, and the opportunity to strike out into a new and untarnished world. But will the weight of her father's choices make her a prisoner in the house at the side of the Thames?
Birth and death, love and sadness, love knots and cut ties, quicksilver and shine, old worlds and new beginnings, Sandra Leigh Price weaves another gritty and beguiling story that will enchant and delight readers.
My Thoughts:
The story begins with the birth of a baby in a river. The mother is a Romany girl named Patrin, and she goes to the water for release from her pain. ‘The iron-flood of my blood went out of me like a road for my child’s tiny feet to follow ... I was outside the limits of time, pain was my minutes and hours, my before, my after.’ Her daughter Eglantine is born on the 24th May 1819, the same day as the little girl who would one day become Queen Victoria. The fates of these two little girls – one a Gypsy girl trained by her father to steal, the other a princess sequestered inside high palace walls – touch in subtle and mysterious ways over the course of their lives.
The next chapter is told from the point of view of Eglantine as a six-year-old child. There is no mention of her mother Patrin and Eglantine has no memory of her. Instead, she has a little wooden doll called Miss Poppet. Eglantine lives with her father in a grand house on the Thames. She has a stepmother called Ada and is served by a housekeeper called Makepeace. The absence of her mother is as constant as the roar of the river.
The mystery of what happened to Patrin becomes the driving force of the narrative. The events that led to her disappearance are entwined with the story of Eglantine growing up, being taught to steal by her charming but self-absorbed father, and learning to fend for herself after he is transported to Sydney. In time, Eglantine herself will find her way to the colony on the other side of the world, following the hope of love.
The pace of The River Sings is slow and deep, the writing strong and poetic, the sense of place wonderfully realised. I was reminded of two novels I really love. The first is The Secret River by Kate Grenville, though most of Sandra Leigh Price’s novel is set in England before the journey to Australia, unlike Kate Grenville’s which moves away from the Mother Country much earlier. The other is Stone Cradle by Louise Doughty, which explores three generations of a Romany family in England. Like these novels, The River Sings illuminates a way of life that has been lost, and is a profoundly moving meditation on love, loss, betrayal and redemption.
You can read my latest historical fiction book review here:
https://kateforsyth.com.au/what-katie-read/book-review-tombland-by-c-j-sansom
The Blurb (from Goodreads):
I knew my brother. I knew when he talked too much about Timothy his imaginary pet eagle. He was scared.
'Whatever you do,' I said to Davey on the walk to school, 'Do not tell people about your eagle. Do not tell Miss Schweitzer about your eagle.'He looked crestfallen. His shoulders slumped. He looked to make sure Timothy hadn't fallen off.
Lenny, small and sharp, has a younger brother Davey who won't stop growing - and at seven is as tall as a man. Raised by their single mother, who works two jobs and is made almost entirely out of worries, they have food and a roof over their heads, but not much else.
The bright spot every week is the arrival of the latest issue of Burrell's Build-It-at-Home Encyclopedia. Through the encyclopedia, Lenny and Davey experience the wonders of the world - beetles, birds, quasars, quartz - and dream about a life of freedom and adventure, visiting places like Saskatchewan and Yellowknife, and the gleaming lakes of the Northwest Territories. But as her brother's health deteriorates, Lenny comes to accept the inevitable truth; Davey will never make it to Great Bear Lake.
An outstanding novel about heartbreak and healing by an award-winning author.
My Thoughts:
I adore Karen Foxlee’s books! Her writing is so delicate and yet so powerful. Lenny’s Book of Everything is the story of a small, vulnerable family living together in a small American town in the 1970s. Lenny and her brother Davey are being raised by their mother Cynthia, their father having left and never come back. They are very poor, and Cynthia works two jobs to support them. Lenny is a prickly little girl, wary of being hurt, longing for something she cannot articulate. One day they win a set of encyclopaedias, with one book arriving every few weeks. And so they begin at A, and work their way on through the alphabet. The encyclopaedias enchant them, and give them a taste for the wonder of the world, and – as Davey grows and grows and grows – turns into a source of comfort for them. For Davey has a type of pituitary gigantism, and soon Lenny will need all her strength to endure his loss.
Such a beautiful, sad book. Even thinking about it brings a lump into my throat. And I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I finished it. A truly unique creation.
Another gorgeous book you may enjoy is:
https://kateforsyth.com.au/what-katie-read/book-review-verity-sparks-lost-and-found-by-susan-green
The Blurb (from Goodreads): No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .
The only way to survive is to open your heart.
My Thoughts:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is Gail Honeyman's debut novel, and has garnered an enormous amount of buzz. It has won a multitude of awards including the Costa Book Award for First Novel and the Australian Book Industry Award, and was nominated for the Women’s Prize. It tells the story of a young woman named Eleanor who works during the week as a finance clerk, but spends her weekends drinking vodka alone. Her life has a very strict routine that never alters, and her contact with other humans is rare and difficult. Her work mates mock her and leave her out, and she has no friends.
Then one day she meets the new IT guy, and then they both help save an old man, and slowly her world opens up. It’s a beguiling bittersweet novel with a warm heart and few surprises.
BUY ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINEThe Blurb (from Goodreads): A young man from a small provincial town moves to London in the late 1580s and, in a remarkably short time, becomes the greatest playwright not of his age alone but of all time. How is an achievement of this magnitude to be explained? Stephen Greenblatt brings us down to earth to see, hear, and feel how an acutely sensitive and talented boy, surrounded by the rich tapestry of Elizabethan life, could have become the world’s greatest playwright.
My Thoughts:
This book was recommended to me as the best of a multitude of books about Shakespeare, and so I delved into it with a great sense of expectation. The first thing I realised was that I know a lot less about Shakespeare than I thought I did. Which is perhaps unsurprising given that so little is known about the Bard’s life. I think, however, that Stephen Greenblatt expects his audience to know the sketchy outlines of Shakespeare’s life and also to be au fait with the arguments of contemporary scholarship about his life and work. So I had to go and do quite a bit of Googling here and there to understand the wider picture. From that point of view, it’s probably not the best book for the general public who are relying on vague memories from school.
Nonetheless, the book is brilliant at locating William Shakespeare within his milieu, and at examining certain events in his life – such as the death of his son Hamnet – and how that might have influenced his work. I know a great many scholars do not like examining the artistic output of someone in order to draw inferences about their personal life … but I believe that you cannot separate art and life. Everything that happens to us has an effect upon us, and of course that works its way into our creative output too (though not always in the way you might expect).
It’s quite a dense book, and the chapters are long, so it took me a while to work through Will in the World – but I think it’s well worth the effort.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Love brilliant historical non-fiction? Read my review of HERE of The Lost King of France
Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes. It’s part of the job!
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yes, deep down, though I didn’t start writing seriously until I was in my 30's.
Tell me about your novel:
The Coffin Path is a gothic novel set on the Yorkshire moors in the 17th century. The story follows Mercy Booth, a somewhat unconventional woman who runs her aging father’s sheep farm. Her isolated world is rocked by the appearance of a mysterious stranger, and even more mysterious events. It’s a ghost story of sorts, with a big nod to Wuthering Heights.
How did you get the first flash of inspiration for this book?
Inspired by writers such as Michelle Paver and Sarah Waters, I wanted to try my hand at a historical ghost story. I’d moved back to the north of England, where I was born, and was reconnecting with the landscape in and around Brontë country. One day, I was out walking the moors when a fog came down very quickly. I was alone, it was almost silent and very eerie, and I thought – this is the opening scene of the book!
How extensively do you plan your novels?
I always start with a plan, but it changes as I go.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
Not yet, though I do sometimes get ideas in that halfway space between sleeping and waking.
Where do you write, and when?
Preferably first thing in the morning, somewhere quiet with natural light and a view of greenery and sky. Once I’m editing I can work anywhere, so long as it’s quiet. I’m not one of those writers who can concentrate in cafes or on trains; I’m too distracted by other people’s conversations.
What is your favourite part of writing?
I love the beginning of a project when it’s all about research and fresh ideas, before a word is even written. It’s so exciting. I also like editing, when I know my characters inside out, the bulk of the work is done and it’s all about making it as good as possible.
What do you do when you get blocked?
Go for a walk, do some exercise, call a friend. Move my body and do something to get outside of myself.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Reading mostly – fiction and non-fiction. Last year I made an effort to read outside my comfort zone. I picked up books that were recommended to me, authors I’d never tried and different genres. I enjoyed it so much, I’m continuing. Also, getting outside in nature, visiting museums, galleries and historical sites all helps.
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
Lots of tea.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
I’d repeat the advice that a good friend gave me early in my career when I was contemplating writing the novel that would become my debut, The Crimson Ribbon: just write the book. There is no short cut.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a novel set in New Orleans. It’s too early to say more! Last year I received a Fulbright Scholar Award, which enabled me to relocate to New Orleans for 12 months, so I’m spending a year researching and learning as much as I can about the city, its history and culture. I hope this amazing adventure will result in a trilogy of novels. Check out my Instagram to see what I’m up to! @klclements
Read my review of her latest book here:
BOOK REVIEW: The Coffin Path by Katherine Clements
The Blurb (from Goodreads): The Coffin Path is an eerie and compelling seventeenth-century ghost story set on the dark wilds of the Yorkshire moors. For fans of Michelle Paver and Sarah Waters, this gothic tale will weave its way into your imagination and chill you to the bone.
Maybe you've heard tales about Scarcross Hall, the house on the old coffin path that winds from village to moor top. They say there's something up here, something evil.
Mercy Booth isn't afraid. The moors and Scarcross are her home and lifeblood. But, beneath her certainty, small things are beginning to trouble her. Three ancient coins missing from her father's study, the shadowy figure out by the gatepost, an unshakeable sense that someone is watching.
When a stranger appears seeking work, Mercy reluctantly takes him in. As their stories entwine, this man will change everything. She just can't see it yet.
My Thoughts:
I loved Katherine Clements’ earlier books, which are all set in the 17th century in England. This is one of my favourite historical periods to read about, and it can be quite hard to find books set then, as most people prefer the gaudier Tudor period. I was looking forward to this book so much I pre-ordered it, and I began to read as soon as it arrived on my doorstep.
The story begins in 1674, in the aftermath of the English Civil War, in a lonely house on the desolate Yorkshire moors, with the words ‘I was born with blood on my hands.’ A young woman named Mercy is delivering a lamb in the snow drift. The writing is intense and visceral and full of dark brooding atmosphere. Mercy is the only daughter of the owner of Scarcross Hall, a remote manor house built on the old coffin path that leads up to a circle of standing stones on the fells. Mercy loves the moors, and could never imagine living anywhere else. She is certain her father will find some way to make sure she inherits when he dies.
Strange omens trouble her. The sound of footsteps, objects vanishing and reappearing, and the constant sense of being watched by something malevolent. One day a young man named Ellis comes to Scarcross, looking for work. He has his secrets, and Mercy has hers. And slowly but inexorably, the sense of menace and danger tightens until the suspense is almost unbearable.
Eerie, chilling, and ultimately surprising, this is probably the best ghost story I’ve ever read.
Mad about Tudor mysteries? Read my review of CJ Sansom’s Tombland HERE:
The Blurb (from Goodreads): Two brothers meet at the border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of outback Queensland, in this stunning new standalone novel from New York Times bestseller Jane Harper.
They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…
Dark, suspenseful, and deeply atmospheric, The Lost Man is the highly anticipated next book from the bestselling and award-winning Jane Harper, author of The Dry and Force of Nature.
My Thoughts:
Her best book yet! Vivid and evocative, psychologically acute, and very cleverly plotted and paced. Jane Harper deserves every accolade she gets.
She has also broken with tradition by not writing another book with the detective-hero of her first two novels, The Dry and Force of Nature. This was bold and unexpected, and I really appreciate both her courage and her confidence in herself and her audience.
The Lost Man is set in far north Queensland, a place of unrelenting heat and vast spaces. A dead man is found crouched at the foot of an old tombstone. He has died from exposure to the sun. The red dust around the tombstone shows his desperate attempt to find shade as the sun wheeled in the enormous blazing sky. His car stand abandoned some distance away, with cold water in the icebox and air-conditioning ready to blast on with the turn of a key. Why did he leave his car? He knew the terrible cost of being caught out in the sun.
His brother Nathan cannot believe it was either stupidity or suicide. The only other option is murder. But who would have wanted to murder him?
As he begins to try and piece together what happens, Nathan has to deal with shadows from the past that he had thought long ago forgotten. And so The Lost Man is also a novel about the sometimes fraught relationships of families, and close-knit and isolated communities. It’s a story about lies and misunderstandings, loyalties and silences. Utterly brilliant.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Another brilliant Australian contemporary crime novel is:
https://kateforsyth.com.au/what-katie-read/book-review-the-dark-lake-by-sarah-bailey
The Blurb (from Goodreads): When Louisa Deasey receives a message from a French woman called Coralie, who has found a cache of letters in an attic, written about Louisa's father, neither woman can imagine the events it will set in motion.
The letters, dated 1949, detail a passionate affair between Louisa's father, Denison, and Coralie's grandmother, Michelle, in post-war London. They spark Louisa to find out more about her father, who died when she was six. From the seemingly simple question 'Who was Denison Deasey?' follows a trail of discovery that leads Louisa to the libraries of Melbourne and the streets of London, to the cafes and restaurants of Paris and a poet's villa in the south of France. From her father's secret service in World War II to his relationships with some of the most famous bohemian artists in postwar Europe, Louisa unearths a portrait of a fascinating man, both at the epicenter and the mercy of the social and political currents of his time.
A Letter from Paris is about the stories we tell ourselves, and the secrets the past can uncover. A compelling tale of inheritance and creativity, loss and reunion, it shows the power of the written word to cross the bridges of time.
My thoughts:
Louisa Deasey’s father died just before her seventh birthday, leaving her with only a few memories and a strange sense of disquiet caused by the dismissive comments many in her family made about him. She knew that he was a writer, and that drew her because of her own writing dreams. Her relatives called him a ‘black sheep’, though, and said he had ‘squandered three fortunes’.
Then, one day, Louisa received a Facebook message from a woman in Paris named Coralie. She had discovered a cache of letters in the attic of her dead grandmother, Michelle. These letters – written in the late 1940s – revealed that Louisa’s father had once had a close and intimate friendship with Coralie’s grandmother. Enchanted at the prospect of finding out more about her elusive father, Louisa sets out on a journey to Paris, to meet Coralie and her family, and to follow the trail of clues the letters gave here about the missing aspects of her father’s life.
It’s a wonderful story. Her father proved to be an intelligent and talented man whose life was thwarted by the war, poverty, and his own ill health. He struggled to find his way in a broken world, when his talents and beliefs were at odds with 1950s society. Most heartwarming of all is the new friendships Louisa made in her quest. This is a book about the importance of human connection, and the need to understand one’s place in the world. I really loved it.
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.
BUY A LETTER FROM PARIS NOWToday I am lucky enough to interview Louisa Deasey, author of A Letter from Paris: A True Story of Hidden Art, Lost Romance and Family Reclaimed:
Are you a daydreamer too?
Yes, sometimes, but I generally pull myself back into line and start writing lists. I wish I could daydream more. I sort of meditate by writing lists...!
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
You know, I never felt like it was a choice. It was just something I've always done. When I was at University I originally studied drama, wanting to do acting, but i hated people looking at me (!) and felt such peace and 'flow' when i was working on essays about the acting process. So Ijust sort of realised it through that. Since I was about 21, I committed to it, though. I love the learning that comes through writing.
Do you ever use dreams as a source of inspiration?
Not as inspiration, but sometimes dreams provide a necessary clue or key to something I've been wondering. I also have had a couple of dreams about dad while I've been working on A Letter From Paris, and now his French memoir, that reassure me that I'm on the right track. It's like a visitation.
Where do you write, and when?
I write in a paper journal every morning, either in bed or in the study first thing, when I've just woken up. And then I work on different projects depending on what's due. I find I have to have a deadline! I jot ideas in my journal for an essay or creative piece or blog post, and I always have to have a notepaper and pen when I'm travelling. I always get ideas when I'm out walking, too. When I'm deeply ensconced in a project, I sort of take over the whole house and don't do much else. I think for a book-length work, you sort of have to. I'm an all-or-nothing person! I also send a lot of emails. I can't work creatively with noise and people around me, so I've never been a writing in cafes type person. I like the bedroom, safe and warm, with the door closed!
What is your favourite part of writing?
Maybe when you lose track of time. It's like playing the piano or something - crafting a world or a story out of words, tap-dancing across the page. I also love re-writing. It's excruciating but the first draft is always bad, but you really get to craft things and make them beautiful when you go back and re-work a piece. That can be so satisfying!
What do you do when you get blocked?
Go to the movies or watch something on Netflix. Visual stories help when I'm all full of words. Walking helps, too.
How do you keep your well of inspiration full?
Nature, cats, music (I love music), laughter, cooking, walking, exercise, planning new projects, and getting enough sleep. Sleep is so important for mojo!
Do you have any rituals that help you to write?
I know this sounds strange, but my cat of 9 years passed away last year and I really don't think I could have written A Letter From Paris without her companionship in the solitude that writing necessitates. Animals are non-verbal, and sort of encourage you to stay still and inside and all the introversion that books take.
After ten months, we've just got another cat, a sweet little rescue cat and I can feel my ideas for books brewing again. Writing can be lonely (just because you need to shut the door and block out the world for hours and days at a time), but cats make it a comforting experience.
I also like to play classical music, light a candle, and generally have 1-2 hot drinks by my side. Peppermint tea and coffee! They're my rituals.
What do you consider to be good writing?
Anything that allows me to suspend disbelief, teaches me something new, or makes me look at something old in a new way.
What is your advice for someone dreaming of being a writer too?
I don't think there's much choice if you really are a writer. But that said, rejection can be tough. You need to do it for some part of you that is resistant to the slings and arrows of criticism. Not everyone will like your writing, but then wonderful people will find you through it, too. Just keep writing. Focus on quantity at first, and then through practice you'll improve your quality!
What are you working on now?
Bringing my dad's post-war France memoir (The French Australian Connection) out of the library's archives as a published book! Click HERE for more information.
See my review of Louisa's book here:
