Secret of the Song by Cathie Hartigan

‘Why don’t you marry Jon, Mummy?’ Mollie, Queen of Barbie-land, and resplendent in her twinkly pyjamas, sat up in bed glaring at me. ‘Then he’d be here all the time, and you wouldn’t need so many minutes on your phone.’

‘That’s absolutely the worst reason to get married I’ve ever heard.’ I kissed my magenta monster goodnight. ‘Now lie down and go to sleep.’

Published by CreativeWritingMatters

October 2015

Summary

When a song by the mad composer, Carlo Gesualdo, is discovered in Exeter Museum, trouble descends on the group asked to sing it. Lisa is full of enthusiasm at first, but she soon becomes convinced the song is cursed. Can Lisa find out what mystery lies behind the discordant harmonies? Will she solve the song’s secret before her relationship with Jon breaks for good and harm befalls them all? 

In Renaissance Naples, young Silvia Albana is seamstress and close confidant of Don Gesualdo’s wife. When Donna Maria begins an affair, Silvia knows that death is the only outcome. But who exactly will die? And where is Silvia’s own lover? Why is he not there to help her?

*****

Reviewed by Sophie Duffy

Secret of the Song was a complete revelation to me. With its two distinct time frames and a potentially cursed piece of music that connects them, I had no idea how the novel would pan out. But there was no time to think about this as I was completely hooked from the start. This is a great example of the time slip genre.

Secret of the Song could also be classed as a crossover read, accessible to both young adult and adult readers alike. Its two protagonists - a young seamstress from Renaissance Naples, and a contemporary thirty-something Exeter musician - are both well-drawn characters who share the simple dream of being happy and in charge of their own destiny. This is a book that plunges you into a dark and mysterious15th century Italy, but pulls you back to modern day Britain with its equally compelling story. Mystery, murder, music, lust, love and longing weave the two threads together.

I particularly liked Sylvia, the Italian - she is flawed but strong and talented and I think teenage readers will relate to her. She reminds me of the heroines of Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Lady and the Unicorn. A young woman who has no power but who uses her wits to avoid becoming a victim of circumstance and class.

The theme of music is cleverly woven throughout the dual narratives. With its different tones and shades of light and dark, this novel is like an opera, both dramatic and intensely human. The beautifully realised settings, in time and place, paint a vivid background against which the action plays out. 

Dual narratives are very hard to pull off as often one of the stories is more powerful or emotionally charged than the other. But Cathie Hartigan uses great skill to achieve a fine balancing act between the two and to give the reader a deeply satisfying read. The entwined narratives zip along with two equally compelling voices and I felt I knew both leading characters so well by the end of the novel. 

And such a charming portrayal of a mother-daughter relationship between Lisa and her ten year old, Mollie… 

Secret of the Song is perfect for fans of Tracy Chevalier, Sally Vickers, Kate Morton and Daphne du Maurier with its attention to the smallest of details and its sweeping emotions that cross all barriers of time, background and culture. A read that will keep you in its grip until the last page.

The Sudden Departure of the Frasers by Louise Candlish

My name is Amber Fraser. I've just moved in at Number 40, Lime Park Road. You'll come to think of me as a loving wife, a thoughtful neighbour and a trusted friend.

This is a lie.

Published by Penguin in May 2015

Pages - 500

Summary

When Christy and Joe Davenport are handed the keys to Number 40 on picture-perfect Lime Park Road, Christy knows it should be a dream come true. How strange though that the house was on the market for such a low price. That the previous owners, the Frasers, had renovated the entire property yet moved out within a year. That none of the neighbours will talk to Christy.

As her curiosity begins to give way to obsession, Christy finds herself drawn deeper into the mystery of the house's previous occupants - and the dark and shocking secret that tore the street apart . . .

Reviewed by Sophie Duffy 

The Sudden Departure of the Frasers has been labeled as a modern day ‘Rear Window’ and this is true to a certain extent as the character of Christy becomes obsessed with her neighbours and watches them, spies on them, through her window. 

The novel is told in a dual narrative, switching between Christie’s third person voice and Amber’s first person ‘confession’. One of the drawbacks of two narrators is that one can be more compelling than the other but I felt that both voices were equally engaging, handled with great skill by Candlish. Amber is the more exciting character, complex and deceptive, but Christy is also intriguing as she is drawn in such a way that we begin to doubt her reliability. This is a novel about the truths we tell ourselves to justify our own actions and the actions of those around us and both these women make the reader question what is fact and what is fiction.

It’s also a novel about our desires to ‘better’ ourselves, wanting more, and living beyond your means, borrowing too much. Does it bring happiness? Or pressure? What if it all comes crashing down? A fable for modern times if ever there was one.

I was utterly captivated by this novel and read it in two days, despite its 500 page length. It’s the tension that keeps the narrative drive going and the need to discover why the Frasers left. I did begin to pick the mystery apart but sometimes knowing what is going to happen, makes the reading all the more full of tension as you wait for the inevitable. And there was an extra revelation at the end…

The writing is clear and crisp and Candlish has a deftness of touch. I will definitely be reading her backlist but will have to make sure to free up blocks of time if her other novels are anything as gripping as this one.

**** 

Sophie Duffy's latest novel, Bright Stars is published in October. 

Losing It by Helen Lederer

Monday 3 March

Millie Tucker allowed herself a brisk check for glitches as she paused in front of the small hall mirror. Escaped nasal hair would, after all, be an avoidable own goal. The eyebrows could do with a tint, which was depressing. She smiled. This was a new habit. And would need practice. 

Published by Pan Books in February 2015

Pages - 458

Goodreads summary

Millie was at one time quite well known for various TV and radio appearances. However, she now has no money, a best friend with a better sex life than her, a daughter in Papua New Guinea and too much weight in places she really doesn't want it.

When she's asked to be the front woman for a new diet pill, she naively believes that all her troubles will be solved. She will have money, the weight will be gone, and maybe she'll get more sex.

If only life was really that easy. It doesn't take her long to realize it's going to take more than a diet pill to solve her never-ending woes...

*****

Reviewed by Sophie Duffy

I’ve always loved Helen Lederer ever since I first saw her back in the 80s, being a funny woman on television when it was difficult to be a funny woman on television. So I was really looking forward to reading her debut novel, ‘Losing It’. 

Lederer writes like she speaks and her writing is, of course, very funny. Millie, the main character whose head and thoughts we inhabit, is self-obsessed, bubbling with anger and simmering with frustration. Millie is on a quest for thinness firmly believing it will solve all her problems but she faces a constant struggle with hunger, of all kinds. This is a story of self-obsession and self-hatred, turned on its head by the love of family and friends and an acceptance of who we are and how we look. 

I feel this novel would have benefited from some heavier editing, particularly in the earlier stages. The stream-of-consciousness was hard to penetrate at first and it was difficult to fully engage with Millie, but she did grow on me as the story progressed and I began to feel more empathy towards her. The novel would lend itself to the stage or television as there are so many excellent scenes and lots of quick-fire dialogue. And it’s funny. Such a lovely change to read a comic novel. There are not nearly enough of these published and I am immensely thankful to Lederer for achieving this.

There are some brilliantly witty lines - the funniest are usually the throw-away thoughts of Millie. It is a very well-observed comedy of manners with a quirky collection of odd neighbours and colleagues, Feng Shui, personal trainers, yummy mummies, gin and a quasi-terrorist organisation known as VPL. Bridget Jones for the older woman. After all, fifty (and in fact sixty plus) is the new thirty, right?

Boys Don’t Knit by TS Easton

1st July

Mum and Dad are at it again. They’re doing that thing where they make food-based double entendres all the time, thinking it goes over our heads. It goes over Molly’s head, she’s only six and she never listens to Mum and Dad anyway. I guess it used to go over my head too, when I was little. But I’m older now, and more sophisticated. I know what they’re up to and it makes me want to vomit.

Published by Hot Key Books in January 2014

Pages - 277

Goodreads Review

Meet Ben Fletcher: an Adrian Mole for a new generation

Ben Fletcher must get to grips with his more 'feminine' side following an unfortunate incident with a lollipop lady and a stolen bottle of Martini Rosso from Waitrose. All a big misunderstanding of course. To avoid the Young Offenders unit, Ben is ordered to give something back to the community and develop his sense of social alignment. Take up a hobby and keep on the straight and narrow. The hot teacher he likes runs a knitting group so Ben, reluctantly at first, gets 'stuck in'. Not easy when your dad is a sports fan and thinks Jeremy Clarkson is God. To his surprise, Ben finds that he likes knitting and that he has a mean competitive streak. If he can just keep it all a secret from his mates...and notice that the girl of his dreams, girl-next-door Megan Hooper has a bit of a thing for him...Laugh-out-loud, often ridiculous, sometimes quite touching, and revelatory about the knitting world, Boys Don't Knit is a must for boys and girls.

************

Reviewed by author, Sophie Duffy 

Boys Don’t Knit is the diary of Ben Fletcher, a nerdy sixth former with no street cred, whose (unreliable) friends keep getting him (unintentionally) into trouble. He ends up on probation after knocking over the fearsome lollipop lady, Mrs Frensham. His probation officer - who is stressfully overworked and pinning her hopes on Ben as her only success story - tells him he must take up a hobby class and do odd jobs for Mrs Frensham as part of his restorative justice. (Echoes of Adrian Mole’s Bert Baxter.)

Ben ends up in the knitting class and has to pretend it’s pottery thinking that will be more acceptable to his dad who is into cars and Chelsea. He is amazingly good at knitting and this takes him to unimagined places and brings him unexpected relationships, not least with Mrs Frensham.

Boys Don't Knit is a really enjoyable read. Ben’s voice invites you into his world, with its quirks and problems that he tries his best to overcome. He is like Adrian Mole in that he is not a stereotypical boy but is probably more self-aware, though with an equally dismal love-life and social scene. He is interested in girls but is far from cool. However, his persistence with his knitting and all that entails, shows he has plenty of geek chic. I love him. 

He has a great relationship with his mother, a magician who is away on the road a lot. This means he is often at home with his father, without his mum as a buffer, trying to be a good son but feeling like he is always letting his dad down. An insightful look at family life with all its complexities and struggles which are highlighted and exaggerated when you are on the cusp of adulthood.

I'd say the book is a crossover of YA and adult and should appeal to all, whatever gender or age. There are some more ‘racy’ parts and the odd juicy word so maybe not for the slightly younger or less mature. I’d happily let my 15 year old girl read it. In fact I am passing it on to her. (Though I suspect she would prefer it on her Kindle as that’s how she rolls…)

A charming, engaging read that challenges stereotypes with several older, strong female characters and a fantastic knitting metaphor: Take life one stitch at a time rather than the whole pattern at once. 

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

Things I say to distract Jeremy so I can take a break from making out:

1. I need to go to the bathroom.

2. Oh, did I tell you … (insert funny thing that happened). It has to be genuinely interesting so he doesn’t know that I’m thinking about anything besides This Moment, even though I obviously am, because it’s not like my brain just turns off when we’re kissing. Well, my mom told me once to be careful because guys turn their brains off and certain body parts on, which was so disgusting I’m sorry I brought it up now. 

3. I’m hungry. 

Published by Scholastic in  March 2013

304 pages

Goodreads Summary:

When Mallory’s boyfriend, Jeremy, cheats on her with an online girlfriend, Mallory decides the best way to de-Jeremy her life is to de-modernize things too. Inspired by a list of goals her grandmother made in1962, Mallory swears off technology and returns to a simpler time (when boyfriends couldn’t cheat with computer avatars). The List:

1. Run for pep club secretary

2. Host a fancy dinner party/soiree

3. Sew a dress for Homecoming

4. Find a steady

5. Do something dangerous

But simple proves to be crazy-complicated, and the details of the past begin to change Mallory’s present. Add in a too-busy grandmother, a sassy sister, and the cute pep-club president-who just happens to be her ex’s cousin-and soon Mallory begins to wonder if going vintage is going too far.

******

Reviewed by Sophie Duffy

This was a sweet, gentle read, with witty dialogue and a quirky tone. The idea is good: going back to a time when life was supposedly simpler without technology. Simpler maybe, but still complicated, what with the whole girl meets boy thing. Nothing’s changed there. This was the point of the book but nicely acted out through Mallory and her grandmother who was her age in 1962.  

‘Pep club’ loses a little (actually a lot) in translation. I had to look it up as I’d never heard of it; we only had netball and cross-country club at our school. It’s some kind of school spirit rah-rah-rah thing. We Brits don’t do pep. Or cheerleading. Majorettes are as close as we get, and they only appear in seaside towns, on carnival day, in the 70s. Ditto ‘Homecoming’. But no doubt pep clubs and homecoming will be winging their way over the Pond in the same way as prom and Glee have done. 

Being a lover of all things vintage (I have a most excellent collection of bone china teacups), I was looking forward to some good old Americana. I’ve read all of Bill Bryson’s books and love the Gilmour Girls so I know all about town squares, motels and quirky shops. Maybe the California setting didn’t quite do it for me. It wasn’t quite … vintage enough. Or may be there just wasn’t enough product placement. I wanted more of the old ‘things’ as well as the concept of going back to basics. 

Where this novel worked best for me was in its relationships, especially between the sisters. I wish I had a sister like that. Funny, sporty, clever. Actually, I think I’d rather be that sister. She’s pretty cool, as they say in America. Don’t they?

This is What Happy Looks Like By Jennifer E. Smith

 

It was not all that different from the circus, and it came to town in much the same way. Only instead of elephants and giraffes, there were cameras and microphones. Instead of clowns and cages and tightropes, there were production assistants and trailers and yards upon yards of thick cables.

407 pages

Published by Headline on April 2nd 2013

Goodreads Review

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds. 

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

Review by Sophie Duffy

What a sweet, charming, yet unslushy novel. I really enjoyed this one and found myself virtually transported to Henley, aka Middle-of-Nowhere Maine, and totally wrapped up in a touching soulmate-meets-soulmate story. 

This is a modern day romance with its use of email as a means of finding love and keeping it. It’s not a dating website or anything dodgy, just a random, serendipitous email from Graham that goes astray from its intended recipient and ends up in Ellie’s inbox. 

They immediately form a close connection, saying things to each other that they cannot say to anyone else. They email every day, several times a day, but neither of them reveals their deepest secret

to each other. Not until Graham orchestrates a visit to Henley and they develop their relationship in person.

Only then does Ellie find out that Graham is not just ordinary Graham. He is teen film star Graham Larkin, with his own management and fans and his every move snapped by the Paparazzi. And to make life more complicated, Ellie and her mum are in hiding from her father, a man famous for quite a different reason. They must keep their now very real romance under wraps.

This is Jennifer E. Smith’s fourth YA novel, one of the others being the critically acclaimed and highly popular The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. She writes in clean, sharp prose and isn’t afraid to delve deep into the character’s thoughts and backstory. She brings the small town American landscape to life with its quirky traditions, shops and restaurants and lots of lobsters.

Following in the tradition of You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle and Notting Hill, and with two vivid main characters and a strong supporting cast, this is a warm, equally-balanced romance. This is reflected in the narration as the story is told from dual perspectives, flipping from Ellie to Graham, chapter by chapter, reminiscent of David Nicholls One Day. The email sections add another layer and keep the pace flowing as there is quite a bit of introspection. It is this introspection that brings emotional depth to the characters and has the reader gunning for both of them.

This is what Happy Looks Like explores the intimate details of family life and relationships and the ups and downs of friendships made over many years and the connections that can be created out of nowhere. 

One email, one summer, one tricky situation … who knows where it will end? Though we know that ‘happy’ can be as simple as an ice cream or the waves on the shore or a pet pig called Wilbur.

A touching read.

The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban

Published by Doubleday 20th January 2013

305 pages

As Duncan walked through the stone archway leading into the senior dorm, he had two things on his mind: what ‘treasure’ had been left behind for him and his Tragedy Paper. Well, maybe three things: he was also worried about which room he was going to get.

Goodreads Review

Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.” A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed. Yet, despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “It” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy. To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, but she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone ever finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine romance, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.

Jumping between viewpoints of the love-struck Tim and Duncan, a current senior about to uncover the truth of Tim and Vanessa, The Tragedy Paper is a compelling tale of forbidden love and the lengths people will go to keep their secrets.

********

Review by Sophie Duffy

I really enjoyed The Tragedy Paper. It is a combination of Harry Potter without the magic, the quirkiness of The Gilmore Girls’ and the intrigue and emotion of the Dead Poets Society. 

The novel is beautifully written in an easily accessible style. A great example of less is more. I could picture the action and the boarding school setting and was never bored by pointless description or excessive exposition. I think the dual viewpoint keeps the novel fresh and the reader engaged. As the novel progresses, the more hooked I was, waiting with trepidation to find out what the big secret was. LaBan is very good at building up tension and delivering results.

This is a coming-of-age story. Finding your place in the world and establishing an identity that is something other than what has always been given you. Tim, an albino, has always been just that: an albino. Now he has the chance to be accepted into the inner circle of cool kids, under the jurisdiction of Patrick. And Tim takes this chance. 

But to add complications into the mix there is also a love interest: Vanessa, Patrick’s girlfriend. Tim is love struck but never knows where he stands. Vanessa blows hot and cold and stays with Patrick even though he can be callous and shallow. Why does she like Tim so much? Is she leading him on or is there more to her feelings for him?

Running parallel to this is the story of Duncan and Daisy. Duncan is allocated Tim’s room the year after he leaves under difficult circumstances. He discovers some CDs that Tim has left him. The ‘treasure’. It is Tim’s version of events of the year before.  As Duncan listens to the CDs we hear the story of Tim and Vanessa and find out what happened one tragic night.

The two stories intertwine and reflect each other and there are resonances of the elements of tragedy that every final year student has to study for a big project known as The Tragedy Paper.

The boarding school atmosphere is authentic and easy to connect with. It’s a privileged world but one with its fair share of problems and conflicts that you would find in any school: boy v. girl, teacher v. student, popular v. unpopular etc. And, as anywhere, it is friendship, compassion, courage and truth that count. 

I thoroughly recommend this debut novel, which has been compared to Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.  I look forward to future novels by Elizabeth LaBan.

The Dark Glamour by Gabriella Pierce

 

Published by Canvas

294 pages.

‘Thanks.’ Jane Boyle aimed a friendly smile at the tired-looking barrista, a sallow-skinned girl with a barbell through her septum. In spite of the fact that the macchiato in Jane’s hand was approximately the eight hundredth she’d bought from the girl in the last three weeks, the barista didn’t show the faintest glimmer of recognition.’

Goodreads Summary

Jane Boyle married her prince charming and moved into his upper east side castle - but she didn't get her fairy-tale ending

It's hard to live happily ever after when you discover your demanding and controlling mother-in-law is literally a witch, determined to steal the magical powers you didn't even know you had. Jane narrowly avoided Lynne Doran's clutches when she escaped on her wedding day, and has been hiding out in New York City. But she can't hide forever.

When Jane learns of the one thing Lynne wants most, she sets out to provide it, hoping her good turn will persuade her mother-in-law to stop hunting her. Unfortunately, Jane's daring plan will send her right back into the witches' den - the Doran clan's multistory town house on Park Avenue. But thanks to a tricky spell, blond architect Jane will be transformed into Ella, a dark beauty with a whole new look . . . and all of Jane's budding powers. Though the stakes are life or death, nobody said "Ella" couldn't have a little fun along the way, too.

**********
Reviewed by Sophie Duffy

‘The Dark Glamour’ is the second of the 666 Park Avenue trilogy, set in the Upper Eastside of Manhattan. It’s a kind of Sex in the City for witches. Shoes, sex and magic.

In the first novel we are introduced to Jane Boyle, a young, talented architect who discovers she’s from a long line of witches. She falls in love with a man who is also from a family of witches, a

Manhattan family with a heap of money and magic, headed by the matriarch, Lynne Doran, who becomes Jane’s nemesis.

I haven’t read the first novel, ‘666 Park Avenue’, but was able to follow the plot as there is a lot of exposition in the first few chapters. This meant I could keep up with the story but it did slow the action down. As with all trilogies I’d say this one would be best read together rather than as stand-alones and would be enjoyed by late teens or twenty-somethings.

The style is slick with some wry humour and moments of tension. Pierce creates a believable world and it’s fun to think there could be witches out there, only recognized by other witches. It would be fun to change your appearance by magic rather than a Gok Wan make-over or plastic surgery. 

So if you like chick-lit with a slice of magical fantasy, maybe this is the trilogy for you to try this cold, wet January. And if you read the first two quickly you won’t have long to wait for the third, ‘The Lost Soul’, published later this month.

The Icarus Project by Laura Quimby

Image from Goodreads

Review by Sophie Duffy 

Published by Amulet Books, 1st November 2012

293 pages

The computer screen glowed in my dark bedroom like a moon. Mom was late logging on to video-conference with me. My mom was totally into ancient civilisations: Mayans, Incans, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans. She even liked Vikings. Her latest expedition had taken her to the jungles of South America. She had told me that in the jungle nothing dries, that everything stays wet. She said even the moonlight felt damp on her skin, s if she had been bathing in milk.

Good Reads

More than anything, Maya wants to discover something incredible. Her parents are scientists: Her mother spends most of her time in tropical rainforests, uncovering ancient artifacts, and her dad is obsessed with digging up mammoths. When her father gets invited by an eccentric billionaire to lead a team investigating a mammoth’s remains in the Arctic, Maya begs to come along. Upon her arrival at the isolated camp, the mammoth is quickly revealed to be a fake, but there is something hidden in the ice—something unbelievable. Along with a team of international experts, each with his or her own agenda and theory about the mystery in the ice, Maya learns more about this discovery, which will change her life forever.

********

Thirteen year old Maya is a spirited, determined character with a passion for books and learning. With her snow-white hair, she has always found herself on the outside. She is desperate to find her own place in the world of science, like her parents, where she will be accepted for what she does, not how she looks. An unexpected expedition to the Arctic with her father is hopefully the start of this journey.

Quimby writes beautifully and the descriptions of the Arctic are both poetic and atmospheric. She builds a believable setting in which the drama can unfold. And unfold it does.

We soon realise nothing is as it seems at the camp. There is no woolly mammoth buried in the ice. It is something quite different. Something that will be life-changing for all involved.

Maya is the first-person narrator and her voice is authentic and inviting. We navigate the new, unknown landscape of snow and ice through her eyes, emotions and thoughts, feeling the biting cold as she does, and sensing the wonder of it all. When she teams up with Kyle, the son of an anthropologist, they become a dynamic duo, intent on uncovering the intrigue that they know is going on. Their friendship is based on fun, discovery and doing what they think is right - no hint of a romance (which is refreshing!). They have no agenda, just empathy with the mysterious creature that comes from the ice.

What I really liked about ‘The Icarus Project’ is the way Quimby makes this world of mythology and fantasy also very real, based in science, and with a believable strong female lead, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, finding her place in society and full of hope for her future and her desire to do good. The fast-paced adventure is balanced satisfyingly by the beautiful language and the emotional depth of Maya.

A fabulous read.

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner

Review by Sophie Duffy

Published by Vintage Children's Classics on 2nd of August 2012

Pages - 176

‘Now then, Emil,’ Mrs Tischbein said, ‘just carry in that jug of hot water for me, will you.’ She picked up one jug and a little blue bowl of liquid camomile shampoo, and hurried out of the kitchen into the front room. Emil took his jug and followed her.

Goodreads Review

Originally published in 1929, Erich Kastner's engaging tale has delighted readers young and old, for generations. It's Emil's first train ride alone and he's excited, and a little nervous. On the train, his fellow passengers are impressed with how polite and grown-up Emil is, and the man in the bowler hat offers him some chocolate, but Emil keeps checking his coat pocket, where he's pinned the money that he is taking to his grandmother. Soon, though, Emil finds himself getting sleepy . . . and the next thing he knows, the man in the bowler hat is gone and so is the money! With the help of some new friends Emil becomes a detective and tracks the thief through the city.

*********

I first read ‘Emil and the Detectives’ as a child of about 8 or 9. I borrowed a copy from Teignmouth library and was immediately drawn into this quaint but un-sanitised child’s world of adventure.

It is very much a boys’ world but I don’t think I thought about that at the time as I had two older brothers and knew they had more freedom than me. However, revisiting the book as an adult, I am far more aware of this gender divide. Despite this, the women are strong characters. As well as Emil’s mother, there is his aunt and grandmother who also wield power in this boy’s world. As for Pony, his cousin, she is a Tomboy who doesn’t know she’s a Tomboy. She has a new bike and also longs for adventure but she knows she must help out at home and be indoors at a certain time, unlike her male counterparts.

I think the book should be read in the context it was written. It is set in Berlin in the inter-war period, 1928, just before the rise of Hitler. It is the Berlin of Cabaret, protests and demonstrations, recession and inflation, the threat of something more sinister than anyone could imagine looming on the horizon. This book is all the more poignant for reading it now with hindsight, especially with the knowledge that Erich Kastner had his subsequent books burned by the Nazis while he watched on.

And yet this book has universal themes of childhood. Adults are often grumpy and yet they say that children these days are so rude. It’s about gangs and the importance of belonging and camaraderie. It’s about single-parenthood. Money is a struggle and Emil’s mother, a widow, works hard to provide for her son so that he can go to school and have the same as his peers. Emil appreciates his mother, and though he is adamant he is not a prig, he would hate to disappoint her in any way. ‘He had to try really hard to be good, as hard as some people try to give up sweets, or going to the pictures.’

But what is so warming about the book, aside from its quirky characters, is the adventure. A pre-cursor of ‘The Famous Five’ and ‘Secret Seven’, ‘Emil and the Detectives’ was one of the first books to have child detectives. This is child power!

I love the narrator asides and the simple line drawings with captions. Some of the language is quaint (‘gay’, ‘right-O’, ‘worse luck’, ‘jolly decent’) but this in no way detracts from the book which has a timeless energy of its own.

It was wonderful to spend some time in Emil’s world after all these years...

An Inventory of Heaven by Jane Feaver

Review by Sophie Duffy 

Published by Corsair in Hardback in May 2012

Pages-320

Last night I slept deeply and dreamlessly, the sleep of angels. When I woke, I woke like Sleeping Beauty, as if I’d been quietly relieved of all the empty years. Mavis, my name came to me quite easily, but for a while I had no sure idea of my age. I might have been no more than a child, or as old as Auntie who lived in this cottage before I did. She was called Mavis too, incidentally, and a Gaunt by birth, as I am. Mavis Gaunt.

Goodreads Review

The few years Mavis Gaunt spent in the village of Shipleigh, Devon, as a wartime evacuee - away from London and her parents' loveless marriage - were sufficient for her to conceive of the place as a heavenly retreat. But it is not until her twenties, with nothing left to keep her in the city, that Mavis decides to head back. Frances, Tom and Robert Upcott are reclusive siblings from a local farm.

When Mavis returns to the village, she and Frances strike up an unlikely friendship. As they grow closer, Mavis is drawn into the sequestered life of the farm and begins at last to enjoy a sense of belonging. But a tragic sequence of events one winter's day is set to turn her heaven into a living hell. Mavis is seventy when Eve and her young son Archie turn up unexpectedly in the village. The tentative friendship that develops between them prompts Mavis to put together a collection of memories and treasures: her inventory. In revealing the truth of what happened at the Upcott farm, she is able to answer Eve's questions about the past, and in summoning them, finally to lay her own ghosts to rest.

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An Inventory of Heaven is an exquisitely crafted and beautifully written novel. Narrated by 70 year old Mavis, we are deftly taken into Mavis’s claustrophobic world and see things mainly through her eyes. Sometimes a more authorial voice takes over and we are given access to other people’s thoughts but this is done smoothly and with subtlety.

Mavis has always been an outsider, even when with other people. She is awkward and socially inept. She keeps her head down and tries not to be seen. Yet she is never sorry for herself, just accepting of her loveless life. When she becomes friends with Frances Upcott, her life shines with yearned for but unexpected brightness.

Mavis takes us back and forth in time, to the war, to now, to the sixties and back again, in a way that is realistic of how memory works. The plot unravels with great skill but you have to work a little as the reader to fully appreciate this - a good thing as it engages you with the novel and makes you want to discover exactly what happened on that winter’s night at Upcott Farm many years ago. The section headings (poem titles of Larkin etc) give you a breather from this insular life in a small cottage in Shipleigh, a village so tiny and remote that no Sat Nav can find it. The imagery of the stuffed bird in its glass dome beautifully and macabrely reflects Mavis’s existence.

Being a Devonian I particularly love Feaver’s drawing of the landscape, the narrow lanes and high hedgerows, the all important weather, the wildlife, birdsong, smells, colours, textures. And her description of life in a rural community is Hardyesque in its other-worldly way. Her language and imagery are poetic, vivid, precise and rooted in nature. She chooses unusual verbs which make complete sense in the way she uses them. An original voice.

Frances, Mavis’s longed-for friend, is a great pianist. When she plays, Mavis is captivated. But Frances has to look after her fathers and brothers on the farm and her potential is limited. Frances, too, is trapped like Mavis. But Mavis, although her name means ‘songbird’, has no obvious talent apart from her typing.

This is a story of spurned love and humiliation set against a backdrop of boarding school, the sick room and the typing pool before Mavis hides herself away in deepest Devon. However, even the central dramatic tragedy is understated in such a way that we are left without being shocked, but with acceptance. This is life. And Mavis, finally, in her later years, is finding a way of dealing with this, through an unexpected connection to the next generations.

A book that will stay with me for a long time.

The Village Vet by Cathy Woodman

Reviewed by Sophie Duffy 

Published by Arrow in May 2012.

Pages - 400

It isn’t every day that I get to ride in a Rolls Royce, bowling along the Devon country lanes in the bright April sunshine with my dad at my side, singing ‘Get Me to the Church on Time’ in his rich baritone voice. His enthusiasm is infectious and I’m not sure which of us is most excited, me or him.

Goodreads review

From the bestselling author of Trust Me, I'm a Vet, this is Cathy Woodman's fifth novel about love, animals and the countryside.

Swept up in a whirlwind romance, Tessa is about to marry, but on the day of her wedding when one of her oldest friends, Jack, interrupts the ceremony, she changes her mind. Her doubts about her groom are confirmed later when she discovers the extent of his debts and that he has been sleeping with her close girlfriend.

Tessa is a vet nurse with no job and no home, and it appears that she will have to live with her parents for the rest of her life, until her aunt, Fifi Green, offers her a position managing Talyton Animal Rescue's Sanctuary. The committee of Talyton Animal Rescue fall out with Fifi who did not consult them, the charity's assets are frozen, there is a shortage of volunteers and too many animals turning up at the door.

How will Tessa cope with these challenges? How will she deal with her changing feelings for Jack, who as well as ruining her big day, is the local animal welfare officer?

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I met Cathy Woodman at a Harry Bowling Prize evening in London in 2008. She was a previous winner from 2002 and was very encouraging of the prize which launched her new career as a novelist. She grew up in Devon, like me, and her vet series, of which The Village Vet is the latest, is set in the fictional market town of Talyton St George in East Devon.

The Village Vet can be read alone as the characters, although previously introduced in earlier novels, now take centre stage. Tessa, the heroine, a vet nurse, is a down-to-earth young woman who falls helplessly, and too easily, in love with the men who come into her life and with the rescued animals that are brought to The Sanctuary.

Woodman draws you immediately into the village setting which she describes with zest, affection and a lightness of touch. Her witty, accessible style makes

the book a fast read as you sail along with it, gunning for Tessa as she goes on her journey of love with hero, Jack, whose job as animal welfare officer means their daily lives continually collide.

It is a very romantic, heart-warming, will-they-won’t-they tale. With lots of endearing rescued animals. Woodman’s career as a vet shows in her writing which has an authentic feel to it when she describes these ponies, dogs and deer.

She’s been compared to a mixture of Katie Fforde and James Herriot which seems accurate to me. Essentially this book is a rural romance and would make a great television series... As would the whole of her Talyton St George series. Now who would play Tessa and Jack?

New Guest Reviewer on Serendipity Reviews

I would every one to give a warm welcome to Sophie Duffy, a fantastic author who is joining the Serendipity Reviews team as a reviewer.

Hi, I’m Sophie Duffy, mother of three teenagers who lives at the seaside in Teignmouth, Devon. I used to be a primary school teacher but now I write novels. My first, The Generation Game was published last summer. My second, This Holey Life, will be out in August 2012. Below is a blurb for This Holey Life.

Vicky is a reluctant curate's wife, struggling to come to terms with her own bereavement and her husband's new-found faith. Then, one Boxing Day, a knock on the door brings her annoying big brother, his teenage son and a cello into her life, turning her world upside down. With her small terrace house in Penge now fit to burst, Vicky struggles to manage her three children and the joys of everyday family life. As a new threat lurks behind every corner, hope appears in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Sophie has her own website, please click here to have look. I am so pleased Sophie has agreed to join us on the blog. Her first review will be up at 10am today.