ULTIMATE BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! Red Runs the Witch’s Thread by Victoria Williamson

Paisley, Scotland, 1697. Thirty-five people accused of witchcraft. Seven condemned to death. Six strangled and burned at the stake. All accused by eleven-year-old Christian Shaw.

Bargarran House, 1722. Christian Shaw returns home, spending every waking hour perfecting the thread bleaching process that will revive her family’s fortune. If only she can make it white enough, perhaps her past sins will be purified too. But dark forces are at work. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of the witch burnings approaches, ravens circle Bargarran House, their wild cries stirring memories and triggering visions.

As Christian’s mind begins to unravel, her states of delusion threaten the safety of all those who cross her path. In the end she must make a terrible her mind or her soul? Poverty and madness, or a devil’s bargain for the bleaching process that will make her the most successful businesswoman Paisley has ever seen?

Her fate hangs by a thread. Which will she choose?

One of the best things about being a book blogger is discovering ‘new to you’ authors and Victoria Williamson is rapidly becoming one of my favourite discoveries!

Best known for her young adult fiction, Red Runs the Witch’s Thread is Victoria’s second adult novella. Like her first – The Haunting Scent of Poppies – Red Runs the Witch’s Thread is a chilling tale with more than a hint of the supernatural.

Set over two time periods, Red Runs the Witch’s Thread follows Christian Shaw as she attempts to perfect a new thread-dying process. From the outset, it is clear that all is not well with Christian. She is plagued by strange visions filled with the colour red. And above Bargarran House, the ever-present ravens are increasing their watchful presence.

It soon becomes apparent that Christian’s visions are a link to her past. To the fateful days after her youngest sister was born: when the red rag tied to the bed signalled the end of Christian’s childhood and a condemned woman’s curse rang out from the Gallows Green. Try as she might to hide it, the ghosts of Christian’s past are coming back to haunt her. And if she doesn’t confront them, they might take her family’s future with them to the grave.

Based upon the real-life witch trials that took place in Paisley in 1697, Red Runs the Witch’s Thread conveys a chilling period when poverty and curiosity could lead to suspicion and rumour was enough to condemn. Although heavily fictionalised, Victoria Williamson has clearly done her research into the tragic history of the Scottish witch trials and the novella has a fantastic sense of both time and place.

My only critique of the novella is Christian herself. The mistress of Bargarran House is a hard woman to like and, whilst I could empathise with elements of her childish confusion, the consequences of that were so horrific that any sympathy I had for her vanished fairly rapidly. Whilst a reason is suggested for Christian’s behaviour, this was rather opaque and I was left uncertain of the exact motivations for her actions in places.

My dislike of the main character did not stop me enjoying the novella’s invocation of seventeenth-century Scotland, however. I was fascinated to learn more about the thread-dying process and thought the novella weaved together history and fiction really well.

Overall, Red Runs the Witch’s Thread is another fantastic read from Victoria Williamson and one that fans of gothic storytelling are sure to enjoy.

Red Runs the Witch’s Thread by Victoria Williamson is published by Silver Thistle Press and is available now in paperback and on Kindle from Amazon.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and to The Write Reads for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 19 April 2024 so please do check out the other stops using the #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour for more reviews and content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

BOOK TAG!!! The Quarter Year Crisis Book Tag

It’s been a while since I did a book tag so I was delighted when BooksAre42 tagged me in the Quarter Year Crisis Book tag. This tag seemed like a great opportunity to check in on my reading for 2024, and to tell you a little bit about some of the other things that have been part of my reading life this year. This tag was created by Roisin’s Reading over on BookTube.

I’m not going to formally tag anyone in this post but, if you read this and would like to have a go at this tag, I’ll post a clean copy of the questions at the end of this post. Please do tag me (and the original tag creator) if you decide to take on the tag as I’d love to read your responses!

Now, let’s get to having that Quarter Year Crisis shall we?

How many books have you read so far?

I’ve read 21 books so far in 2024. This is considerably less than I’d read at the same point last year but I’m not too surprised about that. I’m in the final stages of my PhD in English Literature so I’m currently preparing my thesis for submission, alongside several part-time job roles. Two of my part-time roles involve teaching so, between that and the PhD, I’ve been doing a lot of reading for work and considerably less reading for pleasure. So what I should probably say is that, given I don’t usually track the academic texts and obscure bits of eighteenth-century literature that I read for ‘work’ on Goodreads, I’ve read 21 books purely for entertainment this year. And I’ll take that as a win given everything else that’s going on!

Have you found a book that you think might be a 2024 favourite?

Yes! My first read of the year was Starling House by Alix E. Harrow and I really enjoyed its blend of gothic mystery and ‘two-halves-of-a-whole-idiot-catch-feelings’ romance. I’m keen to read more books by this author so I have The Ten Thousand Doors of January on my shelf and am hoping to get to it in the not-too-distant future. I’d also welcome book recommendations for readalikes so if anyone has them, please do drop them in the comments below!

I’m also currently reading The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton and think it might be another contender. I loved both Stuart’s previous books – The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water – and, by what I’ve read so far, this is going to be another ingeniously plotted mystery with a unique twist. Expect a full review in the near future.

Any least favourite book of the year?

I don’t really go in for least favourites. Although there have been books that didn’t wholly fulfil my expectations, I generally give myself permission to DNF books that I’m not enjoying.

That said, there have been one or two books that have been ‘right book, wrong time’ books this year. The PhD isn’t leaving a huge amount of brain space and, as a result, my tolerance for literary fiction has definitely reduced. I’ve attempted to read both The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell and The Fraud by Zadie Smith this year but have found myself returning them to the shelf unfinished. I’m sure they’ll both prove to be excellent reads once I’ve got the brain capacity to fully enjoy them but that time is likely to be after the thesis has been submitted!

Most read genre?

It will come as no surprise to anyone who regularly reads this blog that my most read genre of the year is mystery. It’s my go-to comfort genre, especially when I need to just switch off and relax. My most recent mystery read was A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

A book that surprised me?

Honestly, Starling House was a real surprise. I don’t always get on with fantasy novels so I was a bit suspicious about whether I’d gel with a book that had such strong magical realist elements. It’s definitely a book that has made me rethink my reading relationship to fantasy and magical realism as a genre.

A book that has come out in 2024 that I haven’t yet read?

As usual, the pace of my book acquisition has vastly outpaced the pace of my reading in 2024! There are several 2024 releases on my TBR pile including The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey, The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown, The Beholders by Hester Musson, A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal, and The Book Forger by Joseph Hone.

One goal you made that you’re succeeding at?

Completing my PhD?! Honestly, although I’m reading less I’m also putting myself under less pressure to read when I’m not feeling it. Not only does this mean I’ve been able to spend time on some other long-neglected hobbies (namely working through my gaming backlog) but I think I’m enjoying the time that I spend with the books I do read more. So I guess I’m succeeding at the goal of being a little kinder in my reading life.

One goal that you need to focus on?

I stopped setting formal reading goals a couple of years ago. I set an annual Goodreads goal (52 books) but, beyond that, I find them something of a deterrent to a healthy reading practice. So in that spirit, my goal is simply to keep reading!

The Questions!

• How many books have you read so far?
• Have you found a book that you think might be a 2024 favourite?
• Any least favourite book of the year?
• Most read genre?
• A book that surprised me?
• A book that has come out in 2024 that I haven’t yet read?
• One goal you made that you’re succeeding at?
• One goal that you need to focus on?

All of the books mentioned in this post can be purchased from your nearest bookseller or online retailer. If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, The Big Green Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, and Berts Books. 

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

REVIEW!!! A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson

Ex-child star Posy Starling is finally filming her dream role – Dahlia Lively in The Lady Detective movie. But things take a nightmare turn when a prop weapon is replaced with the real thing – with almost fatal consequences for her fellow Dahlia, Rosalind King. There’s something very wrong on the set of The Lady Detective – which means it’s time to call in Caro Hooper, so the three Dahlias can investigate.

In between filming scenes, signing autographs for locals, photoshoots in London, talk show appearances and jetting off to France for an impromptu party, the three Dahlias do what they do best – surreptitiously sleuth. And very soon the evidence starts to point towards one particular co-star…

But before they can prove it, another murder rocks the production. And this time, with a storm raging, the river flooded and the bridge washed out, there are no police to rely on so it’s up to the three Dahlias to stop a murderer in their tracks… before another victim is claimed.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first Three Dahlias mystery when I read it on holiday last year, I was excited to pick up A Very Lively Murder, the second book in the series.

After unmasking a murderer at Aldermere the previous summer, filming has finally begun on The Lady Detective: the movie that promises to re-start former child star Posy Starling’s career. But when an attempt is made upon the life of her fellow Dahlia, Rosalind King, Posy once again finds herself needing to inhabit the role of the Lady Detective in real life as well as on screen.

Calling once again upon the aid of their third Dahlia, Caro Hooper, the three Dahlias begin to investigate the threats upon Rosalind’s life. But before long, one of Posy and Rosalind’s co-stars is dead and the threats are the least of their worries…

Alongside the various day jobs, I’m currently in the middle of preparing my PhD for submission and my reading life has, understandably, taken a bit of a hit as a result. I have to do a lot of reading for work and, I won’t lie, its been infinitely more tempting to pick up a controller or a remote than a book in my downtime over the last few months. So it is a testament to A Very Lively Murder that I was utterly compelled by the narrative, finishing the book over the course of a weekend.

As with The Three Dahlias, the dynamic between the three leads is extremely enjoyable, with each of the them bringing their own skills, experiences, and vulnerabilities to the investigation. Although the central mystery is standalone, it was also nice to see some returning characters from the first book in the series, and to get a little more background and character development to the Dahlias themselves.

A Very Lively Murder sees Posy wrestling with taking on the mantle of Dahlia Lively (whilst also wrestling with her burgeoning relationship with co-star Kit Lewis), Rosalind rekindling an old friendship with the potential to become something more, and Caro trying to find out what comes next now that her own Dahlia Lively days – at least on screen – are behind her.

These personal subplots combine with a hefty dose of red herrings and unexpected twists to keep the pages turning. I also really loved the way in which the book dealt with the double standards of the film industry from the perspective of three women at very different stages of life. Whilst remaining firmly within the ‘cosy’ sub-genre, readers should also be advised that the mystery does touch on some difficult topics including sexual assault, suicide, stalking, obsession, and infidelity.

Overall, however, this is a well-crafted, pacy read packed with misdirection and mystery, and with just a dash of humour thrown in to keep the mood light. It made for perfect ‘get-away-from-the-PhD’ reading and, on the space of this entry, I very much look forward to seeing what the three Dahlia’s get up to next!

A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson is published by Constable and is available now from all good bookseller and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Wordery. My thanks go to the publisher and to NetGalley UK for providing an e-copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, The Big Green Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, and Berts Books. 

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! Crow Moon by Suzy Aspley

When the crow moon rises, the darkness is unleashed…
 
Martha Strangeways is struggling to find purpose in her life, after giving up her career as an investigative reporter when her young twins died in a house fire.
 
Overwhelmed by guilt and grief, her life changes when she stumbles across the body of a missing teenager – a tragedy that turns even more sinister when a poem about crows is discovered inked onto his back…

When another teenager goes missing in the remote landscape, Martha is drawn into the investigation, teaming up with DI Derek Summers, as malevolent rumours begin to spread and paranoia grows. 

As darkness descends on the village of Strathbran, it soon becomes clear that no one is safe, including Martha…

As soon as I read the blurb for Suzy Aspley’s debut thriller, I knew this would probably be yet another author in the Orenda stable that I would end up adding to my ‘must buy’ list. And sure enough, Crow Moon – with it’s page-turning combination of folklore, mystery, and murder – did not disappoint!

Set in the small Scottish village of Strathbran, Crow Moon opens with former investigative journalist Martha Strangeways struggling to find her purpose in life following the death of her infant twins in a house fire. When local lad Fraser MacDonald goes missing, Martha is desperate to help in any way she can. But when she stumbles across Fraser’s mutilated body in the woods, Martha finds herself drawn into a far larger case than she anticipated. One that resonates with the folk tales of shape-shifting witches, dark rituals, and moonlit nights that have been whispered through Strathbran for centuries. When another teenager goes missing, Martha teams up with DI Derek Summers in a desperate attempt to stop old crimes being repeated before the Crow Moon – the last full moon of winter – rises.

As befits a tale laden with atmosphere, Crow Moon gets off to a slightly slower start than your average thriller. Suzy Aspley takes her time introducing the reader to Martha, as well as to the remote community of Strathbran. It’s important scene-setting that, rather than detract from the novel’s plot, establishes the atmosphere and introduces the book’s key players whilst slowly developing the tension before dropping the proverbial bombshell (in this case, the body of the missing teenager, Fraser MacDonald) and letting the repercussions of that play out within the small community. It reminded me more than once of the first series of ITV’s Broadchurch and I think fans of that kind of ‘slow burn’ detective thriller will find a lot to enjoy here.

Another way in which Crow Moon reminded me of dramas like Broadchurch and The Killing is in its focus upon the interpersonal relationships of the main character. Martha Strangeways is, at the outset of the novel, a woman haunted by both guilt and grief and Crow Moon is as much an exploration of her psychology as it is a murder mystery. Coupled with the tragic deaths of her own twins, Fraser’s disappearance brings tensions in Martha’s relationship with her partner, Jamie, and her teenage son, Dougie, to the fore, especially once it becomes apparent that Dougie and Fraser may have shared more secrets than the occasional cheeky cigarette.

There were a couple of times when I wondered whether the police would have been quite so forthcoming with Martha about the investigation. Given she’s both a key witness and a tenacious investigative reporter by trade, they’re surprisingly loose with information around her! But plenty of other crime novels play fast and loose with established police/private investigator relationships and Crow Moon does it so well that I’ll give it a pass. Indeed, the partnership between Martha and DI Derek Summers is nicely established with Martha’s more ‘off the book’ methods contrasting nicely with Derek’s more conventional approach. As this promises to be the first in a series, it will be interesting to see how their relationship develops.

The gothic elements are injected really well into a story that is laden with atmosphere. Occasional chapters told from the perspective of the killer are suitably unsettling, as are the sporadic insertions from ‘The Book of Shadows’. I also liked the fact that contemporary Strathbran is, despite its remote location and gothic heritage, depicted as an ordinary everyday community. Yes, the residents can spin a yarn or two about half-forgotten rituals but they’re not the stereotypical insular types so often found in gothic fiction. Instead Suzy Aspley gives the reader a compelling portrayal of a close-knit community torn asunder by the suspicion that follows in the wake of tragedy.

A riveting contemporary crime thriller that is laden with gothic atmosphere and packed with tension, Crow Moon is an assured and accomplished debut to what promises to be an exciting new series and comes thoroughly recommended to anyone who enjoys their crime novels mixed with just a hint of something more macabre.

Crow Moon by Suzy Aspley is published by Orenda Books and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Waterstones, Bookshop.org, and Wordery.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 28 March 2024 please do check out the other stops for reviews and more content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C. L. Miller

What antique would you kill for?

Freya Lockwood is shocked when she learns that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and her estranged mentor, has died under mysterious circumstances. She has spent the last twenty years avoiding her quaint English hometown, but when she receives a letter from Arthur asking her to investigate—sent just days before his death—Freya has no choice but to return to a life she had sworn to leave behind.

Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast’s weekend. But not all is as it seems. It’s clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing.

What is going on at this estate and how was Arthur involved?

More importantly, can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?

Dilapidated country manor house? Check. Group of highly suspicious people all with secrets to hide? Check. Fearless detective duo determined to bring the killer in their midst to justice? Check. C. L Miller’s The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder certainly has all the right credentials to make it a genuine cosy mystery, rather than reproduction.

Yes, that was a poor attempt at an antiques joke. Fortunately for you, dear reader, C. L. Miller has the real expertise to make her venture into the world of antiques, fakes, and forgeries far more convincing than my antiquated attempt at humour (I promise I’ll stop now :P). Miller’s mother, Judith Miller, is the compiler of Miller’s Antique Price Guide, the ‘bible’ of the antiques industry, and C. L. has acted as both editorial assistant for that compendium and researcher for the Antique Hunter’s Guide to Europe.

This expert knowledge is on display in The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder, her first foray into fiction, which sees a reluctant Freya Lockwood drawn back into the world of antiques hunting following the sudden death of her estranged mentor, Arthur Crockleford.

Arthur’s death is dismissed by police as a tragic accident but his best friend Carole – Freya’s aunt – isn’t so sure. When a letter from Arthur – written just days before his death and pointing the way to a hidden ‘item of immense value’ that must be retrieved – Freya and Carole find themselves drawn into a deadly treasure hunt filled with frauds and fakes, and fraught with danger.

I really enjoyed the contrast between the more cautious and retiring Freya – who, at the opening of the novel has, thanks to the rupture with Arthur and a messy divorce, lost her confidence somewhat – and her flamboyant Aunt Carole, a former actress who has lost none of her flair for the dramatic since retiring. Freya did take a while to grow on me but, as I learnt more about what had led to her estrangement from Arthur, I found myself rooting for her as she rediscovered her confidence and flair.

Other characters made less of an impression on me, although I felt I got to know Arthur through both Carole and Freya’s reminiscences and the little pieces of advice given at the beginning of each chapter. Freya’s ex-husband, the odious James, and her supportive daughter, Jade, were also lively additions to the cast (although I very much hope Freya extricates herself entirely from James’ influence after the events of this novel), albeit only in bit-parts.

The central mystery itself is nicely constructed, if a little slow to get off the ground. Once Carole and Freya find themselves at Copthorne Manor – home to an ‘antiques enthusiasts’ weekend’ and packed with as many fraudulent enthusiasts as there are fake antiques – however, the pace picked up. There were one or two subplots that felt somewhat incidental – a somewhat forced romantic interest for Freya didn’t add much for me, for example – but, as this is the first book in a series, it’s possible that these will develop alongside the characters.

The real draw of the novel, for me, was the glimpse into the world of antiques and antique hunting. There’s more than a whiff of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft about the world of stolen antiquities portrayed here (I could totally see Carol shouting ‘it belongs in a museum’ at some would-be antiquities thief) and Miller’s expert knowledge is evident on the page without ever being overbearing.

With a promising detective duo and an interesting USP, The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder is a quick, light, and easy-to-read cosy mystery that is sure to appeal to fans of the Reverend Richard Coles, S. J. Bennett, and Robert Thorogood, as well as to anyone who enjoys sitting down with The Antiques Roadshow.

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C. L. Miller is published by Macmillan and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Wordery.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 19 March 2024 please do check out the other stops for reviews and more content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! The Future of Wales (The Futures Series) by Rhys Thomas

Wales is a nation of contradictions.

It boasts incredible natural resources and crushing poverty; fierce patriotism and a stark north/south divide; an energy surplus, and some of the highest bills in the UK. It also has a famously rugby-mad culture – but its revitalised football team is lighting up international tournaments. So what’s going on?

Rhys Thomas hails from Laugharne – the village on which, it is rumoured, Dylan Thomas based Under Milk Wood’s ‘Llareggub’ (read it backwards). In this affectionate investigation into his home country, via Welsh geography, food, culture and sport, he aims for the heart of its contrasts. In doing so, he builds a mosaic-like image of Wales today – and how it might look in the future.

When publishers Melville House got in touch to introduce their new ‘FUTURES’ series, I was instantly intrigued. Each book in the series aims to present imaginative and inspirational future visions on a wide range of subjects, written with both accessibility and rigour by experts, academics, journalists, and leading pop-culture figures. Furthermore, each volume is slender – no more than 160 pages – and presented in a pocket-sized A-format paperback for perfect portability. Engaging, imaginative, inspirational, AND accessible? To see whether good things really can come in such small packages, I eagerly agreed to give one of the volumes – The Future of Wales – a read to find out.

Written by freelance journalist Rhys Thomas, The Future of Wales contends that Wales is a land filled with both contradictions and potential. His affectionate investigation of his home nation ranges over topics as disparate as soil quality (less dull than it sounds), food, rugby (and why football is currently outshining it), public transport (or the lack thereof), holiday lets, language, and, of course, devolution. Along the way he highlights some of the intrinsic problems that Wales faces: geography, poverty, a stark north/south divide, and the ‘brain drain’ of skilled workers into neighbouring nations, and offers considered solutions for how the country and its people might begin to counteract these.

As someone born in England but partially raised in Wales (or maybe raised by Wales might be a better way of putting it?), I can’t exactly claim the country to be the hen wlad fy nhadau (although I come from a long line of both Robertses and Edwardses so I strongly suspect there might be a Welsh connection in the family tree somewhere along the way). But having lived and studied there for several years, I’m well aware of the way that the country and its culture can work their way into your blood.

English language writing about Wales sometimes makes the mistake of showcasing it as a ‘quaint’ country, filled to brimming with bara brith, wind turbines, static caravans, male voice choirs, and funny place names. And, as Thomas points out (often with a great deal of humour and tongue firmly in cheek), Wales does indeed have all of those things and, in many cases, they are an important part of the nation’s heritage, economy, and culture. But what Thomas does an excellent job of conveying here is that Wales is also a modern nation with modern problems. Problems such as a public transport network that often makes you go into a completely different country in order to get from the south of the nation to the north of it (and you’d better pack some of that bara brith to take with you because you are going to be travelling for a while). Or the need to balance a valuable tourism economy with the loss of cultural identity, community cohesion, and local services that so often results from picturesque towns and villages becoming a sea of second-homes and holiday lets.

Thomas doesn’t shy away from the challenges of addressing these issues – and readily admits that, in many cases, there are no easy answers – but he makes a convincing argument for the need to consider such challenges as inherent to the future of Wales as a nation, specially if annibyniaeth i Gymru (an independent Wales) is ever going to be a convincing or realistic prospect. And he does an excellent job of showcasing just how much Wales already has to offer. From the fantastic food culture and the forward-thinking sustainability and renewable initiatives already in place, to the fact that the nation consistently punches above its weight in the sporting world and has worked hard to bring the Welsh-language back from the brink (Dw i wedi bod yn dysgu cymraeg ers blwyddyn), The Future of Wales celebrates so much of what makes Wales a special place, at least to me. And then it encourages the reader to think about how that celebration might be extended. How can we make the food even better? Easier to access? Cheaper? Renewably sourced? Sustainably farmed? How can Welsh be extended beyond the classroom and embedded into pop culture that goes beyond the nation’s borders? How do we create skilled jobs that not only encourage young Welsh-speakers to stay in Wales but also attract fresh talent into the country?

Whilst there is only so much that can be accomplished in 128 pages, The Future of Wales provides a glimpse into the mosaic that is modern Wales and offers some suggestions for ways of thinking about its development and future. Reading it definitely conjured up hiraeth for my own time living in the country whilst also making me very hopeful for the its future. Cymru am byth!

The Future of Wales by Rhys Thomas is published by Melville House and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Wordery.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and to Nikki Griffiths of MHP Books for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 08 March 2024 so please do check out the other stops using the #FUTURES for more reviews and content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

ULTIMATE BLOG TOUR!!! The Djinn’s Apple by Djamila Morani (translated by Sawad Hussain)

A ruthless murder.

A magical herb.

A mysterious manuscript.

When Nardeen’s home is stormed by angry men frantically in search of something—or someone—she is the only one who manages to escape. And after the rest of her family is left behind and murdered, Nardeen sets out on an unyielding mission to bring her family’s killers to justice, regardless of the cost…

Historical fiction meets crime fiction in The Djinn’s Apple , an award-winning YA murder mystery set in the Abbasid period—the golden age of Baghdad.

Combining murder mystery, historical fiction, romance, AND a poignant coming-of-age tale, The Djinn’s Apple is the first of Algerian author and academic Djamila Morani’s full-length works to be translated into English but, hopefully, won’t be the last.

Set during the reign of Harun Al-Rashid, of the most famous rulers of the Abbasid caliphate, The Djinn’s Apple opens with the brutal murder of twelve-year-old Nardeen’s entire family. Although choosing medicine over politics, Nardeen’s father appears to have fallen foul of the caliph’s denunciation of the once-powerful Baramika family. Betrayed by those once thought to be friends, Nardeen swears vengeance upon her family’s killers. But what can one twelve-year-old girl do against the might of the Abbasid caliphate?

Nardeen’s journey will span several years and take her into the heart of the Bimaristan: one of the most advanced hospitals in the world. There she will meet the enigmatic teacher Muallim Ishaq and his former pupil, Suhaib. And there she will, eventually, learn of the Djinn’s Apple and come to discover the true reason that her family were taken from her.

As you might be able to tell from that brief summary, there is a lot of plot packed into a slender 132 pages. Although this makes The Djinn’s Apple a fast-paced, page-turning read, there were moments when I wished that the story had just a little more room to breath. Although there is a glossary provided at the end of the book, and some very interesting notes about Harun Al-Rashid, the Golden Age of Baghdad, and the Bimaristan, I still found myself wanting to know more about Nardeen and her world.

This isn’t to say that the story doesn’t feel finished. Indeed, it is impressive just how much characterisation Djamila Morani has managed to pack into the novel. I found myself really empathising with Nardeen and enjoyed watching her mature from a distraught child, motivated by righteous anger, into a more considered and reflective player of the political game. I also loved the way in which Nardeen has to learn to use the tools available to her as a young woman in a male-dominated world and the way in which is is her fiery intellect and unquenchable spirit that eventually lead her to discover the truth behind her family’s murder.

Morani’s writing – or rather, Sawad Hussain’s translation of it – is beautifully sparse. Words are very rarely wasted but Morani and Hussain still convey a whole world and all of the senses within it. Whilst reading, I could practically hear the dawn call to prayer, see the luscious gardens of the Bimaristan, and imagine myself sitting before Muallim Ishaq as he lectures to his students.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Djinn’s Apple. Although my time with Nardeen was all-too-brief, her story was absolutely gripping and utterly transported me to a place and time about which I knew very little. From the back-and-forth with her fellow pupil (and, later, love interest) Suhaib, to the wisdom passed down to her from her father, her mother, and her mentor Muallim Ishaq, I really felt like I was getting a little glimpse into Nardeen’s life and world whilst I was reading, and that I was alongside her as she sought the truth about her family’s untimely deaths.

Offering a blend of crime fiction, historical fiction, and coming-of-age tale (and with just a dash of YA romance), The Djinn’s Apple is an engaging and thought-provoking read for older teens and adults alike. Beautifully translated and presented (credit must also go to Holly Ovenden, the designer of the beautiful cover and illustrator of the stunning chapter headers, map, and front/endpapers), this will hopefully not be the last of Djamila Morani’s work that we see translated for English readers to enjoy.

The Djinn’s Apple by Djamila Moran (translated by Sawad Hussain) is published by Neem Tree Press and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, and Wordery.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and to The Write Reads for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 10 March 2024 so please do check out the other stops using the #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour for more reviews and content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! Point Zero by Seichō Matsumoto, translated by Louise Heal Kawai

Tokyo 1958, Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by an intermediary. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes. Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance.

She discovers he had been a police officer in Tokyo after the war, keeping watch over pan pan girls, Japanese prostitutes catering to GIs. Some of these women have created a new life in Kanazawa and may have taken extreme measures to hide their past.

Having read and enjoyed several of the Japanese crime classics that have been translated and published in English in recent years (see my reviews of The Decagon House Murders and The Aosawa Murders), Seichō Matsumoto’s Point Zero, newly translated by Louise Heal Kawai and published by Bitter Lemon Press, was immediately appealing.

Matsumoto is acknowledged as one of Japan’s most celebrated mystery novelists and is credited with moving Japanese crime fiction away from formulaic plot devices and into a more psychological, social realist mode. This is certainly apparent in Point Zero, which focuses upon twenty-six-year-old Teiko whose arranged marriage to Kenichi – an advertising man ten years her senior – is plunged into uncertainty when he fails to return from a business trip to the coastal city of Kanazawa.

Travelling to Kanazawa in the hope of finding Kenichi, Teiko soon discovers that there may be more to her new husband than his reserved demeanour would suggest. Why do none of Kenichi’s colleagues seem to know where he was staying? Why was he hiding a photograph of a local dwelling in the back of one of his books? And why was he trying to keep Teiko away from Kanazawa and the Hokuriku region?

Discovering questions rather than answer, Teiko turns to her brother-in-law Sotaru for help, only to find herself embroiled in yet another mystery when he is murdered, poisoned in his hotel room. Who would want to poison Sotaru and what connection does his death have to Kenichi’s disappearance? And what business could either brother have with Japan’s wartime past, and with the ‘pan-pan girls’ who catered to American GIs after the war?

There is something of the noir tradition in Heal Kawai’s crisp translation, which beautifully conveys the tensions that lie beneath the polite surface of both Teiko’s marriage and post-war Japanese society more widely. First published in 1959 and set in 1958, the novel teases apart the faultlines of social class, gender, and tradition to carefully explore the legacies of war and the pressures those place upon a nation trying desperately to recover and move on from the past.

It was both fascinating and heart-breaking to learn more about the ‘pan-pan girls’: women who provided sexual services for foreign soldiers in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. Initially employed by the Japanese government – ostensibly to protect more ‘respectable’ women from the threat of sexual violence – the ‘pan-pan girls’ were later ostracised, forced into operating as either private or illegal prostitutes and becoming inexorably linked with occupation, victimisation, humiliation, and national trauma [side note: for anyone interested in finding out more about this history and its representation in post-war Japanese fiction, there’s a fascinating open-access journal article by Dr Rumi Sakamoto of the University of Auckland that you can download here].

I also found myself really engaged with Teiko and her quest to find out more about the near-total stranger she has married. Having agreed to an arranged marriage, Teiko is initially torn between the tradition of accepting your spouse on the basis of their present life and her natural curiosity to find out more about Kenichi’s past. I really felt for her in the opening chapters of the novel when she comes to the realisation that, for all that she is Kenichi’s wife, she has little to offer to the police or to his colleagues by way of information about the man she has married. And I admired her determination to pursue Kenichi and his secrets, even as the dangers of doing so – both physically and reputationally – became more and more apparent.

As I said at the top of this review, Point Zero definitely has something of the noir tradition about it. Whilst the mystery of Kenichi’s disappearance – and Sotoro’s subsequent murder – does propel the plot along, the novel is as much about the subtleties of the relationships between the various characters as it is about the mystery elements. As such, the novel is a surprisingly thoughtful examination of interpersonal relationships, cultural stigma, and generational trauma, as well as a neatly-written mystery novel.

If you enjoy a good mystery that explores societal tensions and psychological impetus as much as it does the twists and turns of an investigation, then Point Zero should definitely be on your reading radar. I shall certainly be looking out for more of Seichō Matsumoto’s work and am delighted to learn that another of his novels – A Quiet Place – is already available (and in a translation by Louise Heal Kawai) from Bitter Lemon Press.

Point Zero by Seichō Matsumoto (translated by Louise Heal Kawai) is published by Bitter Lemon Press and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, and Waterstones.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 27 February 2024 please do check out the other stops for reviews and more content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh

Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell.

While her fiancé is eager to make a potentially lucrative acquaintance, Ellen knows what Bell really wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell’s student in a technique called Visible Speech. As he instructed her in speaking, Bell also confided in her about his dream of producing a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent to the telephone, which is being challenged by rivals.

But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain, and cut Ellen off from a community in which she had come to feel truly at home. It is a story no one around Ellen seems to want to hear – but there may never be a more important time for her to tell it.

Sarah Marsh’s captivating debut, A Sign of Her Own, transported me into the life of Ellen Lark, a young deaf woman whose life intersects with that of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

Born into a hearing family, Ellen is left deaf after a life-threatening bout of scarlet fever in early childhood. Although her family work hard to communicate with her – developing a ‘home sign’ system of finger signing – her grandmother Adeline is convinced that Ellen needs to undergo more rigorous speech therapy in order to integrate into the hearing world beyond her home, especially following the death of Ellen’s father.

Encouraged by Adeline to undertake training in Visible Speech, Ellen becomes a pupil of Alexander Graham Bell whose development of his father’s work on Visible Speech focuses on oralism, with lip reading, articulation, and speech therapy taking precedence over sign language. Although initially impressed by Bell’s teaching, Ellen gradually develops doubts about whether oralism is the best way for her, as a deaf woman, to express herself – doubts that only grow when she meets Frank McKinney, a fellow deaf man, and learns of his own experiences with Bell.

Alternating between Ellen’s time as a student of Bell’s in Boston and her present when, re-settled in England and preparing to marry, she is approached once again by Bell in the hope that she will support his promotion and patenting of the telephone, A Sign of Her Own is a compelling account of one woman’s fight to make herself heard on her own terms, as well as a fascinating insight into deaf history. Prior to reading this I was wholly unaware of the debates surrounding the use of sign language, or of the pressures placed on the deaf communities to lip read and learn oralism to ‘adapt’ to the hearing world.

Whilst Marsh does an excellent job of connecting Sarah’s own story with the wider story of Visible Speech and the debates around oralism, sign language, and deafness, I did find the dual-timelines somewhat unwieldy in places. The present-day plot centres around Bell’s invention of the telephone – and the controversy over the patents he has placed for it – and, although this is connected in interesting ways to his previous work on Visible Speech, I wasn’t as invested in this aspect of the story. Instead I found myself drawn to Ellen’s personal struggle to follow her own path despite the pressures being placed upon her by Bell, Adeline, and her fiancée, Harmon.

Indeed, the strongest element of the book for me was the way in which Marsh fully draws the reader into Ellen’s silent world. External noise is stripped from the page, replaced instead by Ellen’s quick sign language and her forced reliance upon the spoken word. I felt wholly immersed in Ellen’s lived experience of deafness and the novel definitely made me realise how the hearing world relies upon the deaf and hard of hearing to adapt, rather than being prepared to make adaptations (such as the learning of sign language) ourselves.

The novel also conveys Ellen’s vulnerability, not only as a deaf woman in a hearing world, but as a young woman without the support of a father or brother to advocate for her in a male-dominated world. Ellen’s relationship to Bell is, at times, troubling as she comes to rely upon his as both an advocate and a teacher, and he uses – arguably exploits – that reliance to promote his work both as a speech therapist and, later, as an inventor. Although Ellen always possesses her own voice, the novel examines the difficulty she has in making that voice heard to those around her, and of actualising her own agency.

Although a little unwieldy in parts, A Sign of Her Own is a fascinating and absorbing historical debut with an engaging protagonist at its core. Marsh has done an excellent job at conveying both the silence and the speech within Ellen’s world and has blended fact with fiction to tell a compelling and important story about the importance of finding one’s own voice.

A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh is published by Tinder Press and is available now from all good booksellers and online retailers including Hive, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Wordery.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 14 February 2024 please do check out the other stops for reviews and more content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!

BLOG TOUR REVIEW!!! The Fruit Cure: The Story of Extreme Wellness Turned Sour by Jacqueline Alnes

A powerful critique of the failures in our healthcare system and an inquiry into the sinister strains of wellness culture that prey on people’s vulnerabilities through schemes, scams, and diets.

Jacqueline Alnes was a Division One runner during her freshman year of college, but her season was cut short by a series of inexplicable neurological symptoms. What started with a cough, escalated to Alnes collapsing on the track and experiencing months of unremembered episodes that stole her ability to walk and speak. 

Two years after quitting the team to heal, Alnes’s symptoms returned with a severity that left her using a wheelchair for a period of months. She was admitted to an epilepsy center but doctors could not figure out the root cause of her symptoms. Desperate for answers, she turned to an online community centered around a strict, all-fruit diet which its adherents claimed could cure conditions like depression, eating disorders, addiction, anxiety, and vision problems. Alnes wasn’t alone. From all over the world, people in pain, doubted or dismissed by medical authorities, or seeking a miracle diet that would relieve them of white, Western expectations placed on their figures, turned to fruit in hopes of releasing themselves from the perceived failings of their bodies.

Arriving on UK shelves just as many readers will be knee-deep in ‘New Year, New You’ messaging, The Fruit Cure is a timely and important examination of wellness culture.

A Division One runner, Jacqueline Alnes was used to pushing through pain. But when a series of debilitating neurological symptoms lead to her withdrawal from the track in her freshman year of college, she is left unmoored, isolated, and desperate for answers. When a succession of doctors were unable to account for the root cause of her symptoms, Alnes turned to an online community of strict fruitarians. The Fruit Cure, part memoir, part investigation, is her examination of what led her into this world of extreme dieting – and of what happened next.

For several reasons The Fruit Cure is not an easy book to read. As you can probably guess from the title and the blurb, Alnes does not shy away from discussing the causes and consequences of disordered eating, including the mental health challenges associated with that. I was shocked and saddened – although, having read Gabriele Jackson’s Pain and Prejudice, sadly not surprised – by the callous treatment that Alnes suffered, first at the hands of her track coaching and medical team and, later, within a healthcare system that perpetually minimises or dismisses female pain. Given her dismissal by so many medical professionals it is little wonder that she – like so many others before her – found herself turning to the internet in search of answers.

Sadly, this is where the book began to fall apart a little for me. Alnes begins her investigation of strict fruitarianism by paralleling her story with that of fruitarianism pioneer Esther (Essie) Honiball: a Health and Physical Education lecturer in Praetoria who, after a bout of tuberculosis left her in debilitating physical and neurological pain, turned to an extreme fruit diet – and the ‘guru’ who propounded it – in search of a cure. Although there are evident parallels, there were times when I didn’t feel that Alnes fully connected her own story with that of Essie’s and, as the book progressed and more strands were drawn in – including an investigation of contemporary ‘raw’ influencers Durianrider and Freelee the Bananagirl – I felt Alnes’s own voice became somewhat lost.

This is a great shame because, for me, The Fruit Cure is at its best when Alnes is relating her personal experience and its intersection with wider societal trends around healthcare and wellness. She writes powerfully about her experiences of being ignored by a healthcare system unable to deal with someone whose symptoms cannot be easily classified, and of the allure that alternative wellness practices can offer to those who find themselves in such extreme circumstances. Her examination of the intersections between physical and mental health in the early chapters is both insightful and heart-breaking and, as someone forced to stop running as a result of recurrent physical injury, I could empathise with the loss of identity that attended her sudden retirement from the track.

Taking in the effects of capitalism, social and mainstream media messaging, influencer culture, and colonialism, there’s a lot – arguably sometimes too much – going on in The Fruit Cure although this does highlight the ways in which extreme alternative wellness is more than just a singular problem with a simple fix. Indeed, Alnes is remarkably even-handed in her consideration of raw food lifestyles and their proponents, examining the pressures of social and mainstream media upon influencers and influencees alike.

Blending personal narrative with a critical examination of both the US healthcare system and alternative wellness culture, The Fruit Cure is, overall, a timely and thought-provoking consideration of the relationship between healthcare and wellness. Whilst I am sure some readers will be more interested in the investigative and critical elements, for me this was at its best as a powerful and emotional memoir of female pain, institutional failure, societal ignorance, and personal resilience.

The Fruit Cure by Jacqueline Alnes is published by Melville House Press and is available now from all good booksellers including Hive, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Wordery.

If you can, please support a local indie bookshop by ordering from them either in person or online! Some of my favourites include Booka Bookshop, Sam Read Booksellers, Book-ish, Scarthin Books, Fox Lane Books, and Berts Books. 

My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review and to Nikki Griffiths of MHP Books for organising and inviting me onto this blog tour. The tour continues until 01 February 2024 so please do check out the other stops using the #TheFruitCure for more reviews and content!

Reviews on The Shelf are free, honest, and unbiased and I don’t use affiliate links on my posts. However, if you enjoy the blog, please consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi!