Thursdays in the Park by Hilary Boyd

Reviewer: Barbara Scott Emmett, author of The Land Beyond Goodbye, Don’t Look Down and the soon to be published Delirium: The Rimbaud Delusion.

What We Thought: I'm glad I knew nothing about this book until I read it because it certainly isn't pensioner erotica or granny lit as some people have said. It’s a perfectly decent book about perfectly decent people.

I was put off at first by the fact that the characters were all so well-heeled and that for them work was more of a hobby than a means of earning necessary cash. However, the insights into relationships got me past my lingering irritation at this. Hilary Boyd has a knack of seeing and recording the complex and often conflicted emotions people have. She shows us human beings who are not straightforward and are perfectly capable of holding two opposing viewpoints at the same time - as most of us are. Yes, it is possible to not want to do something but do it anyway just to keep the peace. And yes, one can both love and hate the same person at the same time. Boyd puts emotions under the microscope so that all the self-delusion, self-interest and mild callousness that calls itself love is fully exposed.

The main character does dither a bit and gives way when you want her to stand firm, but do all heroines have to be kick-ass these days? I think the strong heroine is fairly well represented in fiction now and we can be allowed to read about weaker women without seeing that as somehow anti-feminist. Why can't we have books about ordinary women who do ordinary things and are often misguided? Let’s hear it for the women who don’t always know their own minds and who give in gracefully because they can’t bothered arguing any more. There are certainly enough of us out here.

I enjoyed Thursdays in the Park much more than I imagined I would and immediately went on to read another Hilary Boyd novel, Tangled Lives.

You'll enjoy this if you like: Books about ordinary, though fairly well-off, people; Fanny Blake.

Avoid if you dislike: Novels about the middle classes caught in tangles largely of their own making.

Ideal accompaniments: A nice cup of tea and a digestive biscuit. And a sneaky glass of white wine afterwards.

Genre: General Fiction; Women’s Fiction.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Reviewer: Liza Perrat, author of Spirit of Lost Angels and Wolfsangel (www.lizaperrat.com)

What we thought: powerful, beautifully written and imaginatively conceived.

In The Red Tent, Anita Diamant has taken the scant Old Testament details of Dinah’s life and imagined them into an amazing narrative of what might have happened. The author never suggests this is the "true" story, though it may be based in fact and you do not have to be familiar with the Bible to enjoy this novel.

We are immediately drawn into the intimate details of the lives of Dinah and her four “mothers”, as Jacob marries Dinah’s mother, Leah, then her sister, Rachel, then takes as concubines the other two sisters: Zilpah, and Bilhah. As the only daughter, Dinah’s “mothers” all love and spoil her, bestowing on Dinah gifts that sustain her through childhood, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. In their relationship with Jacob, and with each other, the women struggle through jealously, love, pride and loyalty.

We hear about the births of their children and Dinah’s childhood of learning from her “mothers” in the red tent, where the women were isolated during their cycles, and where they bonded in such a way as to give them a subtle power over men, who were fearful of their rituals and knowledge of childbearing.

Dinah’s tale reaches out from a remarkable period in early history, creating for us an intimate connection with our past.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: strong female characters, lyrical prose, stories loosely based on biblical tales.

Avoid if you don’t like: religious stories, polygamy, lots of references to women’s cycles.

Ideal accompaniments: Fish and wine. Failing that, bread and water.

Genre: Historical Fiction

How to Market a Book by Joanna Penn

Reviewer : Gillian Hamer, author of The Charter  (www.gillianhamer.com)

What we thought : Having self-published my third crime novel, exploring new marketing opportunities is high on my current list of priorities. I must admit marketing has always been a minefield for me as an author, but Ms Penn's book has cleared up a lot of questions and made the process feel much less intimidating.

How to Market A Book takes the reader on a long journey, for ease split into five sub-headings, starting with Marketing Principals right through to Launching Your Book, with everything else in between to appeal to both short term and long term writing plans and ambitions. It's ideal for both an In-depth examination of every option available to authors or for dipping in at relevant sections as and when needed. The author goes into detailed advice which could prove invaluable for novices trying something new - eg podcasts or book trailers. There really is something for everyone here.

Ms Penn spends time explaining how many writers will first need to alter their mindset from seeing marketing as something tacky and embarrassing into the positive idea of 'sharing what you love with people who will appreciate hearing about it' and uses her own story and experiences of how to achieve your goals. In this section, I was particularly impressed with her time management advice.

By the end of the book many of my perceived marketing myths had been wiped out and I felt so much more confident about a range of topics which previously would have meant nothing to me at all! Metadata, keywords, author platforms, paid advertising, email lists. Fair to say, I already have a long list of my own of things I need to be doing! And luckily I now have the perfect guide to refer to along the way.

So, if you want to know more about 'social karma and relationship serendipity' or find the answer to questions like 'So, what exactly is an author platform?' I'd advise this book should be top of your reading list. I've no doubt I shall be referring to it time and again, and believe it will be an invaluable asset on any author's virtual bookshelf.

You’ll enjoy this if you like : Feeling inadequate.

Avoid if you don’t like : Feeling inadequate.

Ideal accompaniments : A couple of Nurofen, a large dose of will power and a bucket of self motivation.

Genre : Non-fiction, self learning

The Flesh Market by Richard Wright

Reviewer: JJ Marsh

What We Thought:

1826 and the dead are rising. The Cadaver Riots horrify the Old Town of Edinburgh as rotting corpses emerge from their graves, ravenous. All agree this must never happen again. The people choose violence, the police favour law and the scientists opt for investigation. But investigating requires raw material.

Enter Bill and William, aka Burke and Hare.

In a brilliant twist on true crime, this book takes a grim reality and turns it several shades darker. The key players each have plausible motivations and the reader sides with each in turn, while constantly questioning the moral drive behind their reprehensible actions. Real imaginative skill goes into creating the individual justifications and personal delusions which push these characters to take those fatal steps.

The setting is absorbing and vivid, the period fascinating and the distant echoes of this factual case are compelling in themselves, but it is the characters who bring this story to life. For a tale so concerned with death, it’s bursting with human vitality. In fact, as soon as I’d finished, I researched the real body-snatchers. 

A scary story in the original, but this angle manages to create something both macabre and human. I wouldn’t normally read anything labelled horror, so suggest we call this ‘Intelligent Grim’.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: atmospheric period horror, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, James Herbert’s The Fog, Edinburgh

Avoid if: squeamish about blood, body parts and death

Ideal accompaniments: A quality malt with a touch of peat such as Laphroaig, or go totally terroir and drink Ethanol. With steak tartare.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Horror

Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

Review by Catriona Troth, author of Ghost Town.

“The days are very short, very dark and the wind is almost constant.  My new home, - my doll’s house – is small, but I like it that way.”

What We Thought:

Rose is a survivor of tragedy, betrayal and mental illness.  She has moved to North Uist, a place where she has no ties and no memories, in the hopes that she can manage her own condition and throw herself into her work as a textural artist without the deadening effects of medication.

But Rose cannot escape from human contact altogether. As her new neighbour Calum tells her, the islanders suffer from ‘indiscriminate generosity.’ “We do this for anyone – even folk we can’t stand!”

Calum is a poet and before long they are planning a joint project – textiles inspired by poems, poems interpreted through textiles. And Calum is worming his way through her defences in other ways.

Gillard’s style is sometimes fragmented, reflecting Rose’s state of mind. She moves back and forth between 1^st and 3^rd person, between past and present.  We see what Rose includes in her letters to her daughter, and also what she leaves out.  At times the narrative is almost raw with honesty, but at the same time it is redolent with hope.

You’ll enjoy this if you like: Patrick Gale, Ali Smith,

Avoid if you don’t like: Fragmented narrative, stories that tackle mental illness, poetic evocations of the landscapes of the Outer Hebrides

Ideal Accompaniment: A long walk along a Scottish beach, a view of the mountains and a glass of whisky.

Genre: Literary Love Story

Georgiana Darcy's Diary by Anna Elliot

Reviewer: JD Smith, author of Tristan and Iseult

What We Thought: Georgiana Darcy's Diary is exactly that, diary entries by the young sister of our beloved Mr Darcy, written in the spring of 1814, following the defeat of Napoleon. Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy are married and settled in Pemberley, and they are about to host a house party. Along with scandal, deception, there is also romance in the air, as the family are on a mission to ... wait for it ... find Georgiana a suitor. No surprises there.

In fact, there aren't many surprises in this book, but despite that the plot fits well with the traditional and much-loved formulae of Pride and Prejudice. The narrative is more modern than Austen's original, so if you're expected it to be then you will be disappointed, but it does mean it is more accessible and suitable for all ages. 

Altogether a sympathetic yet refreshing slant on a beloved classic.

You'll enjoy this if you like: British stuff, Austen (obviously) and petticoats.

Avoid if you dislike: romance, Austen and reading.

Ideal accompaniments: Pimms, cucumber sandwiches, strawberries and cream

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Genre: Romance, Historical.

Available from Amazon

Help! A Bear is Eating Me!

Reviewer: Kelly Jarosz, co-founder of Zurich Writers Workshop (www.zurichwritersworkshop.com)

What We Thought: Marv Pushkin is the kind of guy who nearly runs you off the expressway with his Range Rover and then screams at you for being in his way. Now he’s trapped under said Range Rover in the Alaskan wilderness, slowly being eaten by a black bear. Maintaining consciousness with prescription painkillers, beer and campground snacks, he rants about how his predicament is everyone’s fault but his own.

I felt bad laughing out loud at Marv’s arrogant, misanthropic commentary on the world, but I did. A lot. At the same time, author Mykle Hansen expertly plays Marv’s lack of self-awareness. Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more of Marv’s ranting, he lets slip a clue into his sad origins, and I almost pitied him. Then in the next sentence he gloats about knocking down a man with prosthetic legs, and I rooted for the bear to finish him off already.

You'll enjoy this if you like: The Black Knight scene in Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

Avoid if you dislike: Irredeemably arrogant, bigoted protagonists; politically incorrect humor; absurdism

Ideal accompaniments: Beef jerky and a can of Budweiser.

Genre: Humour, Bizarro fiction