Tag Archives: Canadian

The Painted Girls – Cathy Marie Buchanan

by

painted girls cover cdnParis, 1878. Following their father’s sudden death, the Van Goethem sisters find their lives upended. Without his wages, and with the small amount their laundress mother earns disappearing into the absinthe bottle, eviction from their lodgings seems imminent. With few options for work, Marie is dispatched to the Paris Opera, where for a scant seventeen francs a week, she will be trained to enter the famous Ballet. Her older sister, Antoinette, finds work as an extra in a stage adaptation of Émile Zola’s naturalist masterpiece L’Assommoir. Marie throws herself into dance and is soon modelling in the studio of Edgar Degas, where her image will forever be immortalized as Little Dancer Aged 14. Meanwhile, Antoinette, derailed by her love for the dangerous Émile Abadie, must choose between honest labour and the more profitable avenues open to a young woman of the Parisian demimonde. Set at a moment of profound artistic, cultural and societal change, The Painted Girls is a tale of two remarkable sisters rendered uniquely vulnerable to the darker impulses of “civilized society.” In the end, each will come to realize that her salvation—her survival, even—lies with the other. – Publishers Website

LOVE, LOVE LOVE !!! I guess I can’t just say that, now can I?  Cathy has taken a subject she has just come across and developed a seductive, evocative historical fiction masterpiece in her newest book!!  Even if you haven’t taken ballet as a girl like I Cathy and myself have, you are still drawn into the gruelling training, the blood and sweat that is left in the practice rooms or on the stage during performances.  The attention to detail is impeccable, the emotions stirring your own as you flip or in my case devoured page by page, then realizing that you have read it in one sitting thinking what in the world just happened.  Yes, I have gushed about her earlier book The Day The Falls Stood Still, BUT! (yep, there’s that one again) You will absolutely love this one in a whole new way.  Grab that glass of absinthe, get comfy in your favorite reading place, and prepare to become enraptured in the trials and tribulations of the Van Goethem sisters as they traipse, dance and leap across the Paris Theatre Stage .  As they walk through their poor existence as best they can.  One thing I can’t help thinking about…what has happened to them in the next 20 years of their lives…Cathy does give you a small glimpse into the future at the end of the book, but do they fade into the background at the same speed they came to the foreground?  Is there something else in the background waiting in the wings? Only I can speculate or dream as they did.

This book for sure will have the Giller Judges enthralled if it is nominated this year for Canada’s Literary Prize for sure! Please Giller Gods, Make it Be !!

If you are on the USA side of the Border, it is published by Riverhead Books.  And if it is any sign of the publicity that it is receiving on both sides of the border, it will be a massive best-seller for sure !!

Reading Guide – Facebook - Twitter - Cathy’s Website - Browse Inside The Painted Girls - Q and A with Cathy

 

Guest Author Post – Cathy Marie Buchanan – The Painted Girls: Two Stories Intertwined

by

Please welcome Cathy to the blog once again for her second historical fiction book – The Painted Girls which is available both in the USA and Canada right now!  I can tell you if you haven’t read her first book which I fell in love with at the first few sentences, you should.  Cathy is one of those rare talents where writing gets better and better like a fine aged wine…that’s if you drink wine! Here is a guest post she has done for me, enjoy!

 

When Edgar Degas unveiled Little Dancer Aged Fourteen in 1881, he showed the sculpture alongside his portrait of two teenage boys on trial in the criminal court.  The Painted Girls tells the story of the young dancer who modeled for the sculpture and also that of the Emile Abadie and Michel Knobloch, the boys Degas drew in the prisoners’ box.

Art historians contend more than a shared exhibition links the artworks.  They suggest in each Degas sought to imply the depravity of his subjects. What, I wondered, lay laid beneath such a claim?

pg1 pg2

Marie van Goethem, I would learn, modeled for Little Dancer.  She was from a poverty-stricken family and was trained to enter the famous Paris Opéra Ballet. It was the dream of many a poor Parisian girl. The ballet offered a chance to find fame and fortune if she had talent and ambition, if she was able to attract the attentions of an admirer with clout enough to advance her career.  Such liaisons were commonplace, and unfair though it was, blame fell squarely on the shoulders of the ballet girls.  It was not surprising, then, that when the sculpture was unveiled, the public at once connected Little Dancer with a life of corruption and young girls for sale.  Her face, they said, was “imprinted with the detestable promise of every vice.”  Degas, it would seem, was successful in suggesting the child’s depravity.

Such an intention was easy enough to swallow when it came to the portrait of Abadie and Knobloch.  “Scientific” findings of the day supported notions of innate criminality and particular facial features—low forehead, forward-thrusting jaw—that marked a person as having a tendency toward crime.  Those features are incorporated into the portrait (and the sculpture, too).  Even more telling, Degas titled the portrait “Criminal Physiognomies.”

pg3

What fascinated me most of all, though, as I researched the stories of Marie and the boys was the possibility the link between the artworks went beyond the shared exhibition and the suggestion of criminality.  All three youths had inhabited the same underbelly of Paris, and I could not stop myself from imagining their paths had crossed, the ways in which such a meeting might have altered destinies.  Yes, I wanted to tell both stories, but I wanted to intertwine their lives, too.  And so on the pages of The Painted Girls, there is a fateful day when Marie’s older sister meets Abadie behind the Paris Opéra.

It certainly does make you think about this, doesn’t it?

Thank you so much Cathy for this, and stay tuned for my review of The Painted Girls.

The Headmaster’s Wager – Vincent Lam

by

From Giller Prize winner, internationally acclaimed, and bestselling author Vincent Lam comes a superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War.

Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon. He is also a bon vivant, a compulsive gambler and an incorrigible womanizer. He is well accustomed to bribing a forever-changing list of government officials in order to maintain the elite status of the Chen Academy. He is fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, and quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country.

He devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, choosing instead to read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mahjong tables. But when his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival faces the limits of his connections and wealth and is forced to send him away. In the loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace in Jacqueline, a beautiful woman of mixed French and Vietnamese heritage, and Laing Jai, a son born to them on the eve of the Tet offensive.

Percival’s new-found happiness is precarious, and as the complexities of war encroach further and further into his world, he must confront the tragedy of all he has refused to see. Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving through a richly drawn historical and physical landscape, The Headmaster’s Wageris a riveting story of love, betrayal and sacrifice. – Publishers Website

I really liked this book ! Percival isn’t only a man who has a business, he also bribes officials and almost always has a solution to everything…Until his son causes trouble and he has to send him away to China so he doesn’t end up in prison.  His son is everything to him, he will do anything for him and his school.  When the loneliness from missing his son becomes too severe, he takes up with a young woman when gambling at one of the houses he goes to .  Later on, she becomes pregnant, and the desire to leave the country in war as well as all of the chaos is even more urgent.

Percival was an interesting man – his past marriage to his son’s mother, the bribes and people he is connected to,  especially his right hand man Mak gives him the solutions he needs until he misses his son so much that it is nearly impossible to have him return to Vietnam from China.  What won’t he do to survive? Who will he bribe next? Will he become bankrupt before he can leave the country, or worse dead?

I really loved Vincent’s narrative.  Although Percival is a man of many things, the one of the many things he loves are his son and his mistresses son, whom he was told it was his son, well, you will just have to read the book to find out. I don’t like giving spoilers !  There are times where it is all fun and games, periods of tumultuous fighting with his own family, and closest friends, but also within himself.  He wages a constant battle of doing right from wrong, and weighing them against the better good.  Does he do these things to get ahead? Of course.  Would he do anything to save his son who was exiled, absolutely.  Is it all about him, most of the time.  Does he have remorse? Of course he does.  And, I’m sure he would change things differently if he could go back in time.  That’s the thing with life, you can’t go back and change anything.  Did he learn from his lessons, yes.  Did he change? I’ll let you decide.

There were obviously good times had in the book as well, all combined into this novel it is about sacrifice, love, war, and greed.  I am sure that Vincent will be back soon with another novel of even more importance even if it is fiction.  He won the Giller Prize in 2006 for Blood-Letting and Miraculous Cures.  He was nominated for the Giller yet again this year, but only made it on the long list.  He was also nominated for the Governor Generals Awards.

Vincent’s Website - Twitter - Facebook  - Browse Inside

Touch – Alexi Zentner

by

NOMINEE 2011 – Scotiabank Giller Prize

Touch begins with Stephen, an Anglican priest, returning from Vancouver to the northern BC town of Sawgamet where he grew up, just in time for his mother’s death. Sawgamet was founded by Stephen’s grandfather Jeannot, when he heard a voice in the woods calling his name and his dog, Flaireur, refused to take another step. Back then, as Stephen remembers it from the stories passed down to him, men were giants, or even gods, striving to tame the land. The world of Sawgamet was enchanted, alive with qallupilluit and ijirait, sea-witches and shape-shifters; Jeannot saw caribou covered with gold dust and found gold nuggets the size of boulders. Sometimes winter refused to end, and blizzards buried the whole town in snow for months at a time. Sawgamet was a place where Jeannot had to kill a man twice and then carry the bones around with him, bound in cloth, to make sure he stayed dead.

Years later, with his mother on her deathbed, Stephen tries to piece together the past from myths and stories and memories that he’s not sure he can trust. And not everything is magical: if life in Jeannot’s Sawgamet was richer and brighter than it seems for Stephen now, it was also harder and more brutal, with both fire and ice claiming too many lives before their time. Jeannot never knew his son, Pierre, Stephen’s father, who was himself maimed in a logging accident; Stephen’s childhood was marked by tragic loss, and a lasting pain he must now confront as he considers how to pass Jeannot’s stories on to his own daughters.

A chronicle of the birth of a town and the passing of a way of being in the world, Touch is unique, compelling and full of marvels. But this book captures the most personal moments in life as well as the most dramatic ones – Alexi Zentner conveys three generations of a family’s intimate emotional experience in language that pierces the heart. This beautiful and moving novel is a great story told by a natural storyteller, and to read Touch is to enter an enthralling world that you’ll never want to leave. - Publishers Website

Believe the book’s description.  Touch is one of those books where the writing is fantastic, the story baffling, you can’t really believe what you are reading – fact or fiction, but as you read page after page, it entices you, envelopes you as if you are a person living in this town.  The realization is like being in another world, except you are right there where you are reading it, being brought into another world.  The legends, the stories – real or fabricated makes you feel like you are listening to them from your own grandparent or other family member – your eyes all widened, the look of shock or even mischievous thoughts crossing your mind wondering if it really was weird or just made up. Thoughts of making the story even more out of this world.  Yes, it does happen.

Then as you are caught up in the story telling, it reminds you of other thoughts and feelings possibly of your own mortality, other family members that have passed away, the warmness of their hugs, the food they made, the stories they told.  The stories passed on from earlier generations are as wild as they were when you first heard them.  It’s about a family, much like yours or even mine – the ties that bind, the secrets kept, the hard work, shocking revelations, the things they regret and are telling you to finally let them go.

Truly a novel that needs to be read to be believed.  It has recently been long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Awards a few days ago, along with the other previous nominations including the Giller Prize.

If you haven’t already picked up this gem, now is the time to see what I have talked about.

Goodreads – Alexi’s Website – Alexi on Twitter – Alexi on Facebook

Listen to Alexi Zentner’s Touch from Dreamscape Media on Vimeo.

The Red Pole of Macau – Ian Hamilton

by

In The Red Pole of Macau, Ava’s half-brother Michael is desperate to pull out of a multi-million-dollar real estate deal in the territory of Macau. The developers are threatening to halt construction unless Michael and his business partner put up another $80 million; the bank is looking for repayment on their loan; and her father is prepared to sell everything to protect his first-born son.

When Ava enlists Uncle for help, she discovers his health is failing and is forced to turn to a former client, the cunning and seductive May Ling Wong. As Ava follows the money trail, she finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into Hong Kong’s dark and deadly world of organized crime.

Will Ava protect her family’s future? Or will this job lead to a violent end . . . – Publishers Website

Fangirl Moment when this arrived in the mail !! The fourth installment of Ian Hamilton’s Ava Lee Series ! I admit, I was engrossed in another book when this one arrived, but it was literally starting me down from the living room table, I had to put down the other book, until this one was read cover to cover, in the middle of reading I’m sending my thoughts to Ava with things like “Get That Sucker!” as well as other expletives that I can’t divulge here.  Tee hee!

I absolutely LOVE Ian’s collection so far, and wont give up on reading them until the last one has been shed, the plots revealed, and Ava has ridden the world of evil and people who are trying – yes, trying to take something away from people who a) don’t deserve it, or b) are being greedy!

I found out something quite interesting (at least to me) Some have commented on Goodreads that the constant name dropping of fashion brands, and of course her Starbucks Via in the books have turned people off the books.  But, when I was at Word on the Street in Toronto, I found out by the publicist that in fact in the Asian culture, that is what they do, they go by designer names, etc.  It is just their culture.  No more no less.   And I realize that here in Canada or anywhere else that sounds a bit much or irritating, but Ian has toned it down so to speak.  You won’t hear as much of it in the books, but you do see some of it.

So, now that I’m done gushing about Ian and his Ava, go and get the books all right?!?  They are FANTASTIC!  Ava comes out with a new book in February, so get caught up would you !!

Browse inside - Ian on Twitter - Ian on Facebook - Goodreads - Ian’s Website

I really wish there were some book trailers for Ava, She would kick some serious ass in them !

Forgotten – Catherine McKenzie

by

Congratulations to Catherine!!, who just this week had this book published in the USA.   This is a re-posting of the review I had done for it’s Canadian Release. It is available through William Morrow in the USA.

When everyone thinks you’re dead, how do you start your life over again?

Emma Tupper, a young lawyer with a bright future, sets out on a journey after her mother’s death: to Africa, a place her mother always wanted to visit. But her mother’s dying gift has unexpected consequences. Emma falls ill during the trip and is just recovering when a massive earthquake hits, turning her one-month vacation into a six-month ordeal.

When Emma returns home, she’s shocked to find that her friends and colleagues believed she was dead, that her apartment has been rented to a stranger and that her life has gone on without her. Can Emma pick up where she left off? Should she? As Emma struggles to recreate her old life, everyone around her thinks she should change – her job, her relationships, and even herself. But does she really want to sacrifice everything she’s working so hard to gain? – Publishers Website

I really truly believe that this is Catherine’s best novel yet !  It had a soul that you couldn’t walk away from, that one thing that keeps you reading page after page, until the last one wanting there to be more in the story.  What would you do if this happened to you?!?  Would you scream and cry or pick up where you left off to start your life all over again or would you just throw in the towel and say to hell with it? Myself, since I have started over again when my marriage failed so miserably I didn’t really have a choice to just sit and cry, I had to get up and prove to people I was the person that I was saying I was, and not the one other people were portraying me to be.  So, I can identify with Emma, know what she was going through in a sense.  Your whole world is somewhat turned upside down.  You, yourself are the only one that can turn it back upright; and fight for what you believe in.  Even if that means falling in love with the one person who you didn’t think possible. My reviews of Catherine’s other books can be found here by clicking the links – Arranged – SPIN.  Here are 2 Q and A’s I have also done with Catherine – Q and A #1 – Q and A #2

Catherine’s Website – Browse Inside – Twitter – Facebook – US Publisher – William Morrow

Q and A with Author Cassie Stocks of Dance, Gladys, Dance

by

Photo Credit: Terry Gasior

I want to welcome Cassie to the blog, and hope you enjoy her answers to the questions I posed to her recently via email, I enjoyed her answers immensely!

What was it that made you want to become a writer after having so many adventures yourself?

When I was about seven, I wrote a couple of sentences on a scrap of paper about two people I was having trouble with. I folded up the piece of paper, put it in my pocket, and carried it around all day.  Somehow, I knew I’d done something both powerful and comforting.  As preteen I wrote poetry illustrated by feminine hygiene advertisements from Reader’s Digests (you know – women in billowy gowns walking on beaches). I wrote a gang novel on the back of my worksheets in elementary school and I kept journals for years.  I wrote throughout my adventures in later life as well but it wasn’t until I settled down a little that I had both the time and the brain space to tackle a larger project.

How much of yourself or have you added parts of yourself  into your book?

I think there is something of myself in all the characters in Dance, Gladys, Dance. The details in the novel are a mixture of pure fantasy and real life. I did have a deaf cat called Beethoven that walked across the piano. I didn’t ever sleep with any of my professors or instructors. Like the main character Frieda, I did have a feeling of displacement in the ‘real world’ from trying to live as and have a career as an artist. I have both painted and made papier-mache projects but I’ve never crocheted. I did travel in a bus with a bar band (for a very short while).  I’ve never been a Goth or a ghost.

You are a fellow Canadian. What would be your most favorite “Canadian” thing to do?

I’m not sure, I’ve never skied, climbed a mountain, or played hockey. I was in a canoe once. I’ve drank a lot of Tim Horton’s coffee and spent my share of Canadian Tire money.

What gave you the idea for this novel?

About fifteen years ago, I saw an ad for a stereo. The ad actually said “Gladys doesn’t dance anymore, she needs the room to bake.” I clipped the ad and kept it for years. It might have been a joke, but I wondered who Gladys was and why she would ever give up dancing for baking. In the novel, I changed the stereo in the ad to a phonograph, but it ultimately led to Gladys’ story.

The stories of Frieda and the other women are a combination of my own sentiments, research I’ve done on women and creativity, composites of people I’ve met, and the results of a caffeine saturated imagination.

Besides writing, what other talents would you like to have?

I’d like to be able to do psychic grocery shopping and cleaning by telekinesis (when I’m in the middle of a project, I buy paper plates and plastic cups and cutlery. Bad for the environment, but if anyone wants to start a Save the World – Get Cassie a Cleaning Woman Fund, I’m up for it).

If you died and were able to come back as anything you wanted, what would it be and why?

If I could come back in the past, I’d come back in the roaring twenties. I want to be at a literary salon, as the woman writer wearing tweed pants, paisley silk scarves, and leather ballet slippers (no matter the weather), sitting cross-legged in an over stuffed armchair with a martini, making bitter pronouncements about poodles and the world economy.

Do you have any favorite writers? Who are they and why?

Off the top of my head, I love Kurt Vonnegut (Bluebeard), Nick Hornby (A Long Way Down), Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha), George Orwell (Keep The Aspidistra Flying), Charles Dicken’s (Oliver Twist), Miriam Toews (A Complicated Kindness), Paul Quarrington (Whale Music), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Cannery Row), Stephen Leacock (Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town), Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe), John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany) and Mark Childress (Crazy in Alabama).  I enjoy a good story simply told, both intelligent and accessible. I like the sense of a story being about itself, but also about something bigger, with a sense of political or social awareness.

Are you working on anything new?  When can we expect it to come out?

I’m working on my second novel called The Amazing Adventures of Mattress Boy. I’m not sure when it might be out. Stay tuned.

Do you have any heroes in real life? Who are they? Why?

My English Spaniel Frieda (named after the main character in Dance, Gladys, Dance to remind myself to write every time I called the dog — sad I know). I got Frieda from the humane society. She was terrified of the world and literally crawled everywhere. With time she overcame her nervousness and decided to befriend the entire world. Two years later she jumped off a second story porch, got tangled in a wrought iron railing on the way down and had to have one of her back legs amputated. Within a week, she was up and around and still runs around now like mad and approaches the world with endless enthusiasm.

What is the one trait that you most deplore in others? Yourself?

Judging others seems to be a recreational sport for some people. I think we need to choose not to evaluate people based on their skin colour, gender, social standing, monetary worth, religious beliefs, shoe size, or whatever the heck people choose to judge others by. Compassion, not criticism should be our beginning point. I work on this myself; it’s easy to get caught up in gossip and nit-picking.

Dance, Gladys, Dance – Cassie Stocks

by

27-year-old Frieda Zweig is at an impasse. Behind her is a string of failed relationships and half-forgotten ambitions of being a painter; in front of her lies the dreary task of finding a real job and figuring out what “normal” people do with their lives. Then, a classified ad in the local paper introduces Frieda to Gladys, an elderly woman who long ago gave up on her dreams of being a dancer.

The catch? Gladys is a ghost.

In Dance, Gladys, Dance, Cassie Stocks tells the uplifting story of a woman whose uncanny connection with a kindred spirit causes her to see her life in a new way —as anything but ordinary. – Publishers Website

I have to say, what a quirky, funny, interesting read ! Not so much classic chic-lit in any way; it is certainly a book that makes you think about the instances that Frieda encounters throughout the book.  Is Frieda’s life really such a mess?!?  Is she really alone and untalented as she thinks she is?!?  Does Frieda believe in herself?!? Why do others think of herself much more than she does? It seems to me she is going through some sort of crisis she brings upon herself; those negative messages she starts to believe from what other people have told her.

Don’t we all at one time or another fall into that trap.  Depending on whether we are having a bad day, or just feeling down upon ourselves, Frieda finally through the help of Gladys, who is a ghost who is chasing her own mistakes she has made in life, while attempting to help from beyond the grave.

We, as women, or even men for that matter need to stop the negative back talk and regrets in our own lives or in other for that matter and start to believe in ourselves.  This book is laugh out funny, deeply inspirational, and with characters’ quirkiness which, will have you glued to the pages wondering what will happen next.  We need to stand up for one another as the characters did midway to the end of the book for what we believe in, maybe not as drastic as some of the members did with going with all out nudity, but we can make our presence known in other ways.

As part of this blog tour, please stop by these other blogs that are participating.  Although, I don’t offer book giveaways, these other blogs may be holding one if you want to try your luck and try to win a copy.  If you aren’t lucky, please support the author by going to your indie bookstore or chapters/indigo/kobo and buy your copy !

Tomorrow, I have the Q and A where I had a chance to ask Cassie some questions, stay tuned !

Dance, Gladys, Dance Blog Tour

June 26th and 27th: The Indextrious Reader

July 2nd and 3rd: Lavender Lines

July 13th and 19th: Koala Bear Writer

July 16th and 17th: The Book Chic Blog

July 19th and 20th: Serendipitous Readings - HERE

August 7th and 8th: Peeking Between the Pages

Unknown date – The Book Drunkard

Cassies Blog – Goodreads – Twitter – Download an Excerpt – Listen to a Podcast

#16 – The Winter Palace: A Novel of Catherine the Great – Eva Stachniak

by

From award-winning author Eva Stachniak comes this passionate novel that illuminates, as only fiction can, the early life of one of history’s boldest women. The Winter Palace tells the epic story of Catherine the Great’s improbable rise to power—as seen through the ever-watchful eyes of an all-but-invisible servant close to the throne.

Her name is Barbara—in Russian, Varvara. Nimble-witted and attentive, she’s allowed into the employ of the Empress Elizabeth, amid the glitter and cruelty of the world’s most eminent court. Under the tutelage of Count Bestuzhev, Chancellor and spymaster, Varvara will be educated in skills from lock picking to lovemaking, learning above all else to listen—and to wait for opportunity. That opportunity arrives in a slender young princess from Zerbst named Sophie, a playful teenager destined to become the indomitable Catherine the Great. Sophie’s destiny at court is to marry the Empress’s nephew, but she has other, loftier, more dangerous ambitions, and she proves to be more guileful than she first appears.

What Sophie needs is an insider at court, a loyal pair of eyes and ears who knows the traps, the conspiracies, and the treacheries that surround her. Varvara will become Sophie’s confidante—and together the two young women will rise to the pinnacle of absolute power.

With dazzling details and intense drama, Eva Stachniak depicts Varvara’s secret alliance with Catherine as the princess grows into a legend—through an enforced marriage, illicit seductions, and, at last, the shocking coup to assume the throne of all of Russia.

Impeccably researched and magnificently written, The Winter Palace is an irresistible peek through the keyhole of one of history’s grandest tale. – Publishers Website

I absolutely LOVED this book.  Eva portrays these two women with such confidence, surety, and conviction in what they believe in and what they will do to get it.  I am sure that Catherine the Great, and all of what she has done in the past surely has her heroes and haters, but I really liked this book.

It is filled with drama, dilemmas, fighting and intrigue, and if you haven’t read it yet, go and get it I LOVED this book!

Reader’s Guide – Eva’s Website – Facebook – Twitter


#10 – The Wild Beasts of Wuhan – Ian Hamilton

by

The Third installment in the wildly popular Ava Lee series, The Wild Beast of Wuhan uncovers the secret world of art fraud.

In The Wild Beasts of Wuhan, Uncle and Ava are summoned by Wong Changxing, “The Emperor of Hubei” and one of the most powerful men in China, when he discovers that the Fauvist paintings he recently acquired are in fact forgeries.

Ava uncovers a ring of fraudulent art dealers and follows their twisted trail to the Netherlands, the Faeroe Islands, Dublin, London, and New York. But the job is further complicated by Wong’s second wife, the cunning and seductive May Ling, who threaten to interfere in Ava’s investigation.

Will Ava find the perpetrators and get the Wongs’ money back? Or will May Ling get to them first… – Publishers Website

Oh Ava, how I have missed you !! You are smart, sexy, agile in more ways than one, you always manage to get things done no matter the consequences, the difficulty hunting down the bad guys, making all right with the world until the next situation comes up.  Ian surely has hit his stride with the series and his main character Ava.  This time it is about forged art, and although she isn’t sure she can produce results, you hang on while reading to see what happens next.  When I received this book I believe I actually squealed (possibly even jumped up and down a bit, but shhh don’t let anyone  know ok?)

There is also something new in the book or in her world – Ava has a love interest, which changes it a bit, but it is a good change.  I’m not sure how this will affect future books, we will just have to wait and see.  AS a matter of fact, Ian has just signed a new contract with House of Anansi – Spiderline to a new deal which will have 3 new books in the mix after the Fall release of The Red Pole of Macau.  So, I am just as excited  and honoured to be allowed to read these before anyone else when it hits the stores.

So, if you haven’t already read my reviews of Ian’s earlier novels in this series they are Book 1 – The Water Rat of Wanchai – Book 2 – The Disciple of Las Vegas and this one of course.  So, I cannot get enough of Ian’s series so far, what about you?I just wish that I could get all of the books at once and read them from start to finish ! Ian?!?  House of Anansi ?!? are you listening …hint hint ha!

Ian’s Website – Facebook – Twitter – GoodReads - Reading Guide – Read an Excerpt

#8 – The Beggar’s Opera – Peggy Blair

by

In beautiful, crumbling Old Havana, Canadian detective Mike Ellis hopes the sun and sand will help save his troubled marriage.

He doesn’t yet know that it’s dead in the water—much like the little Cuban boy last seen begging the Canadian couple for a few pesos on the world famous Malecon.

For Inspector Ricardo Ramirez, head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Cuban National Revolutionary Police, finding his prime suspect isn’t a problem—Cuban law is.

He has only seventy-two hours to secure an indictment and prevent a vicious killer from leaving the island. But Ramirez also has his own troubles to worry about. He’s dying of the same dementia that killed his grandmother, an incurable disease that makes him see the ghosts of victims of unsolved murders. As he races against time, the dead haunt his every step … – Publishers Website

What a breath of fresh air ! I loved Peggy’s tale of Cuba, intrigue, suspense, action and adventure.  She kept me guessing all through the novel, just when I thought I knew who the bad guy was, I was so totally wrong!   She had woven a tale that I am almost sad that I got to read the first book of three, because now I want to read them all at once ! Oh well, we will just have to wait until Peggy is finished writing those book don’t we?  Peggy, I just hope that I am one of the first on that list to be able to get a sneak peek before everyone else (I love my job reviewing) I think just because of that, I get a sneak peek at books that I loved and gush about before any of the public does! Too bad the pay isn’t better ! ha ha !!

So, if you are a fan of the thriller, action, adventure genre, then this new to you and me author will have you glued to wherever you’re reading this and will have you there until you have read the last word on the page.  Then you will think to yourself, Peggy!! Hurry Up!! I want more please !!

Stay tuned, I have a Q and A with Peggy that I have done recently with her, as well as a list of other blogs that are on her Blog Tour so you can see what they had to say about Peggy’s first book of three.  It will be posted immediately here after I am done this post.

Beggars Opera Site – Peggy on Twitter – Goodreads – Peggy’s Website – Facebook – Peggy’s Blog – Read an Excerpt

 

The Placebo Effect – David Rotenberg – Q and A

by

Please welcome David to the blog, read on what he had to say about what I had asked and a special peek inside something he is writing this moment…..

SR:  If you had to choose would you rather write books for the rest of your life or continue to teach, direct actors? Why?

 DR:  I actually need both. The writing makes me a better teacher, the actors I work with make me a better writer. My initial profession was as a professional stage director. I ran an American Regional Theatre for years an actually directed a few times on Broadway. When I came back home, to Canada, I couldn’t manage to get into that line of work up here, don’t really know why

SR:  In your novel, synesthesia is prominent in the main characters attributes, have you or someone you know come across a person with these abilities? If so, was that one of the main reasons you had used it in your novel The Placebo Effect?

DR:  No one I know has such abilities. I’ve always written about people with special abilities, the five Zhong Fong novels are about a man with exceptional talent in a world where special talents are not honored. When I directed the first Canadian play in the People’s Republic of China the first thing the Artistic Director of that theatre said to me was, “You must remember that you can always be replace”-a fine hello, how was your flight!

Synesthesia simply gives and access to the ‘other.’ There is a lot of material on synesthesia; some of the most interesting is actually the documentary on Mr. Tammet and his extraordinary abilities. There is also a gentleman called the human camera, you can find YouTube stuff on both, and BBC documentaries. As well Mr. Tammet has an interesting book.  Rainman was based loosely on the man who Mr. Tammet thought of as his spiritual father-he passed away a few years back.

SR:  Do you think the world as a whole could make use of Decker’s talent of knowing when people are telling the truth given the state of the world today?

DR:  Sure would simplify a he said/she said situation, don’t you think?

SR:   Is there a special place that you read? Write? If so, where and why?

DR:  I’ve had a private locked room for over 40 years. I usually write there. When I’m stuck I go to the store and buy a nice pad of paper and a new pen and write in long hand for a while. I tend to read in bed, quite late into the night, although often when I’m writing I’m not able to read.

SR:  When can we expect book 2 and three of the Junction Chronicles? 

DR:  Book two of The Junction Chronicles is with the publisher, it’s entitled A Murder of Crows. You’ll have to ask them when it’s going to come out! As well, I have a subseries that I’m working on called Seth’s Dream. At this point it’s two volumes long, very much speculative fiction, don’t know when/if it will get published.

Here’s the opening of A Murder of Crows

Ch. Prologue – An Idyll of Thoughts at T – Plus 4 Days and 16 Seconds

THOUGHTS: This is a foolish country. And this town with its obsessively symmetrical old church is ridiculous.
These people believe they will live forever. They hide death behind walls and bury it in places with names like Pleasant Valley and Peaceful Rest. We in the East know that death is neither pleasant nor restful.

Perhaps we spend too much time thinking about our deaths – but death is real. It is the only certainty. And to refuse to confront a certainty is foolishness. A foolishness that all these Americans will be forced to abandon when we force them to understand that Judgement awaits everyone – everyone.

Look at all these kids and their parents. Look at them. So self-satisfied. So convinced they are special – the chosen ones. And they all love America. Well why not? America has made the parents wealthy and is going to make most of these privileged kids rich too. While backed by their military might this horror of a country makes the rest of the world its slaves. And these science profs up there on the stage invented much of the military prowess of this country while these students all around me are preparing to take their places.

All are soldiers of the oppressor.

But there will be justice – even here, on this pampered campus in Upper New York State there will be justice. It will come – as surely as putting NAME OF CHEMICAL together with NAME OF CHEMICAL will cause a massive explosion – it will come.

Be sure to be on the lookout for this first installment into the Junction Chronicles.   Thank You to David and the Publicity Team at Simon and Schuster Canada for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. I’m really looking forward to A Murder with Crows.

Now, get reading !!

#6 – The Placebo Effect – David Rotenberg

by

Decker Roberts has the dangerous gift of detecting the truth. For years this talent proved to be a lucrative sideline to his acting teaching. Only his closest friends know, and he keeps his identity secret from the companies that pay him to tell them if the people they are planning to hire are lying.

But Decker’s carefully compartmentalized life starts to fall apart. His house burns down, his credit cards are cancelled, his bank loan is called and his studio is condemned.

He realizes that he must have heard something in one of his truth telling sessions that someone didn’t want him to know.

Decker has to go on the run and figure out why he’s been targeted. There’s also a government agent hunting him who seems to know absolutely everything about Decker Roberts’ identities, real and false—and other people of “his kind.” How will Decker find out which truth is endangering his life?

Who betrayed him and revealed all his secrets? Decker needs to find answers quickly, before knowing the truth turns from a gift into a deadly curse.- Publishers Website

I really enjoyed the angle of this book.  Synesthesia is an actual phenomenon if you will, it does exist, if you happen to do a google search as I did.  My main question would be would you want to have this sort of magical super-power?  I guess it would have to be said I would love to have one, but not one that would get me into trouble for one, after all I am an angel…tee hee!  David’s writing was engrossing, informative, entertaining, and a terrific waste of time.  Just remember that this is the first in a series I believe of three books, with David giving me a bit of a scoop on the next one in a Q and A I did with him over email recently.   He just so happens to be a fellow Canadian, this isn’t his first book either.  He’s written 5 mysteries set in Modern China, as well as a best-selling historical fiction novel.  I don’t think I will have any resistance in grabbing his next novel, regardless of the setting, he sure can write !

Facebook – David’s Website – Excerpt – Reading Group Questions

Stay tuned, as I have done a Q and A with David, it will be posted right after I am done posting this review !!

#5 – A Good Man – Guy Vanderhaeghe

by

Multi-award-winning author Guy Vanderhaeghe’s eagerly awaited new novel is a dazzling follow up to his bestselling The Englishman’s Boy and The Last Crossing (a Canada Reads winner!).

A Good Man culminates what could be thought of as a trilogy of books set in the late nineteenth-century Canadian and American West, and it is a masterpiece. Vanderhaeghe skilfully weaves a rich tapestry of history with the turns of fortune of his most vividly and compellingly drawn cast of characters yet. Vanderhaeghe entwines breathtaking, intriguing, and richly described narratives that contain a compelling love story, a tale of revenge and violence, a spectacular battle scene, the story of an incident in Welsely’s past that threatens his relationship with Ada, and much, much more. While raising moral questions, this novel weaves the historical with the personal and stands as Vanderhaeghe’s most accomplished and brilliant novel to date. – Publishers Website

Although, I haven’t read the two earlier novels that pre-date this one.  It is certainly a book that you can read by itself.  I really enjoyed Guy’s writing style, it was a comfortable, relaxing read.  It was a book that mellowed you out, made you comfortable where ever it was I read.  It is one of those books that you can wind down from a long hectic day at work, certainly not one that will put you to sleep; but one that just mellows you out so you are able to enjoy it fully. At least it was for me, you may experience it differently.

Between the main characters brief stint in the Northwest Mounted Police, as well as others you will learn about; he is keeping a dreadful secret.  One, that he thinks will end his career or at least his reputation.  Determined to go on his own, he leaves Canada for the American West.  When there he learns the tales of others who are rather unsavoury and out to get him, or others as the plot progresses.

Then of course there is a  woman – Ada Tarr, married the town’s lawyer, who has a past of her own.  Sitting Bull has a cameo in this novel as well, the portrayal is stunning to his own real-life description. The fighting/war scenes are of course a staple in this historical gem of a read.  It does however, make you ask yourself some tough questions, whether you are a fan of Guy’s past works, or your first foray into his world, you certainly will not be  disappointed.

 

Goodreads – US Publisher – Facebook

#4 – Into The Heart of The Country – Pauline Holdstock

by

Set in eighteenth-century Canada, this compelling new novel takes the reader deep into unexplored territory. Appearing only fleetingly in the historical record of the Hudson’s Bay Company are the Native women who lived at the company’s Prince of Wales Fort and served as companions to the European traders — and whose survival was bound, for better or worse, to the fortunes of those men.

Across more than two centuries, the mixed-blood woman Molly Norton, daughter of Governor Moses and personal favourite of the explorer Samuel Hearne, speaks to us from her dreams. As the story of her liaison with Hearne unfolds, we move toward its tragic consequences. When their small society is torn apart, Molly and the other women find themselves and their children abandoned by their British masters. Now — in one of history’s cruel ironies — they must fend for themselves in the harsh country from which their own ancestors sprang.

Unflinching, powerful and rich in moral ambiguity, Into the Heart of the Country explores a tragic meeting of cultures that still reverberates in the present day. – Publishers Website

Wow, what a book ! Set in the desolate and often mostly un-inhabited northern areas of Canada during the 18th century, Pauline takes us into the wilds of Northern Manitoba during the time the English and French came to search for animal pets, work and settle.

The Norton’s, in particular the head of the settlement for the Hudson’s Bay Company sits in almost ambiguity as the Governor of the Prince of  Wales Fort. His family – a mix of English and Native people from the surrounding areas is uncommon as it was common to drink tea in Britain.  His daughter Molly undeniably half-blood, unprepared, under-dressed, and forbidden to learn the skills her Mother has learnt from her ancestors.

She is fearful of her father, even more fearful of the harsh wilderness that is right outside.  His tyrannical rule even spreads farther outside the desolation of the lands they trade furs.  He doesn’t trust anyone, ever.   Even more so as one of their Native acquaintances – Matonabbee; the head of the tribe that conducts business with the Governor from time to time.

At a time where Canada is being inhabited by people from Britain as well as France, this particular fort is forced to face the most dubious of forces.  Where there is an almost certainty of being double crossed, promises made that are  broken, or upheld amidst the harshest of circumstances.

How far would you go to protect, or destroy something that is in your way?  How far would you go to get what you wanted?  Is there anything you would do to get it and destroy the people in your way?

I was completely astonished in the way(s) that some people would do or say to get what they ultimately wanted.  The harshness of the wilderness that surrounded these people, the wish and will to survive.  Even now, in present day, the Native people of this country are still fighting for what they believe in.  They were the ones that were here first, only to have their lands and beliefs as well as to be good people stripped away from them, then and now.  This, is a story of not only tragedy, but of resilience, hope, love, and sadness.

I really enjoyed Pauline’s writing.  The book does go from past to present in mostly Molly’s voice as the story unfolds;  but also told from the perspective from other characters in the plot.  All I could think of while reading this book was how people, not only the natives who suffered, but also the people who came to begin a new life in Canada among the harshest of circumstances, the people who taught them how to survive, at all costs, wasn’t enough for some.

Into the Heart of the Country was long-listed for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.  Pauline was also a finalist for the 2004 Giller Prize for her book Beyond Measure, as well as the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the City of  Victoria Butler Book Prize.  She won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize that same year.

Pauline’s Website - Facebook - Goodreads - Canadian Bookshelf - Browse Inside 

#3 – The Free World – David Bezmozgis

by

Summer, 1978. Brezhnev sits like a stone in the Kremlin, Israel and Egypt are inching toward peace, and in the bustling, polyglot streets of Rome, strange new creatures have appeared: thousands of Soviet Jews who have escaped to freedom through a crack in the Iron Curtain. Among the thousands who have landed in Italy to secure visas for new lives in the West are the members of the Krasnansky family — three generations of Russian Jews.

There is Samuil, an old communist and Red Army veteran, who reluctantly leaves the country to which he has dedicated himself body and soul; Karl, his eldest son, a man eager to embrace the opportunities emigration affords; his younger son, Alec, a carefree playboy for whom life has always been a game; and Polina, Alec’s new wife, who has risked the most by breaking with her old family to join this new one. Together, they will spend six months in Rome — their way station and purgatory. They will immerse themselves in the carnival of emigration, an Italy rife with love affairs and ruthless hustles, with dislocation and nostalgia, with the promise and peril of a better life. In the unforgettable Krasnansky family, Bezmozgis has created an intimate portrait of a tumultuous era.

Written in precise, musical prose, The Free World is a stunning début novel, a heartfelt multigenerational saga of great historical scope and even greater human depth. Enlarging on the themes of aspiration and exile that infused his first collection, Natasha and Other Stories, The Free World establishes Bezmozgis as one of our most mature and accomplished storytellers. – Publishers Website

I wasn’t exactly sure when I received this book that I was going to like it, I don’t think anyone does right?

I wasn’t disappointed.  David begins the story in 1978, when hoards of Soviets are leaving the country they have known all their lives to begin new.  Where do they want to go? – America, Canada, anywhere where they wouldn’t have to be downtrodden.  They want a better future for their families, to begin again after so much has happened.

They first land in Italy, where the process of moving to a new country is started.  They meet some characters who are doing the same thing.  This family has gone through so much, as have the other people who are leaving their homeland for new places, people and things. As time goes on in Italy, they meet up with people they have known before, their stories as telling as their own – the sacrifices, the abuse, the hilarity of it all.  Just attempting to get where they want to be, how long it will take them.  They go on to find whatever normalcy they can.  I too am from a family whose family has left the Ukraine for a better life.  I wanted to read this book to perhaps get a glimpse into what my Grand Parents had to overcome to be able to come to Canada – for a better life, a new beginning.

I was impressed with how the book was written – with deep introspection into the life they had,  with what they will experience in the future.  The plans in place, the ones that aren’t.  They take things as they come, fostering new friends, solidifying old ones as they wait for their Visa’s.  Moving itself is a very stressful thing to do, but even moving from one country to another much more stressful.  The author writes as if he is there in the middle of it, experiencing it as we all read along with him as he writes.  As you could say – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly all wrapped into one. I quite enjoyed it.

The Free World was a finalist in the 2011 Governor General’s Literary Awards, and was shortlisted for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Goodreads - David’s Website - Twitter - Facebook - Browse Inside the Book

 

#73 – The Virgin Cure – Ami McKay

by

“I am Moth, a girl from the lowest part of Chrystie Street, born to a slum-house mystic and the man who broke her heart.” So begins The Virgin Cure, a novel set in the tenements of lower Manhattan in the year 1871. As a young child, Moth’s father smiled, tipped his hat and walked away from his wife and daughter forever, and Moth has never stopped imagining that one day they may be reunited – despite knowing in her heart what he chose over them. Her hard mother is barely making a living with her fortune-telling, sometimes for well-heeled clients, yet Moth is all too aware of how she really pays the rent.

Life would be so much better, Moth knows, if fortune had gone the other way – if only she’d had the luxury of a good family and some station in life. The young Moth spends her days wandering the streets of her own and better neighbourhoods, imagining what days are like for the wealthy women whose grand yet forbidding gardens she slips through when no one’s looking. Yet every night Moth must return to the disease and grief-ridden tenements she calls home.

The summer Moth turns twelve, her mother puts a halt to her explorations by selling her boots to a local vendor, convinced that Moth was planning to run away. Wanting to make the most of her every asset, she also sells Moth to a wealthy woman as a servant, with no intention of ever seeing her again.

These betrayals lead Moth to the wild, murky world of the Bowery, filled with house-thieves, pickpockets, beggars, sideshow freaks and prostitutes, but also a locale frequented by New York’s social élite. Their patronage supports the shadowy undersphere, where businesses can flourish if they truly understand the importance of wealth and social standing – and of keeping secrets. In that world Moth meets Miss Everett, the owner of a brothel simply known as an “infant school.” There Moth finds the orderly solace she has always wanted, and begins to imagine herself embarking upon a new path.

Yet salvation does not come without its price: Miss Everett caters to gentlemen who pay dearly for companions who are “willing and clean,” and the most desirable of them all are young virgins like Moth. That’s not the worst of the situation, though. In a time and place where mysterious illnesses ravage those who haven’t been cautious, no matter their social station, diseased men yearn for a “virgin cure” – thinking that deflowering a “fresh maid” can heal the incurable and tainted.

Through the friendship of Dr. Sadie, a female physician who works to help young women like her, Moth learns to question and observe the world around her. Moth’s new friends are falling prey to fates both expected and forced upon them, yet she knows the law will not protect her, and that polite society ignores her. Still she dreams of answering to no one but herself. There’s a high price for such independence, though, and no one knows that better than a girl from Chrystie Street. – Publishers Website

I had read and adored Ami’s last book The Birth House and this one is no exception.  A girl who is poor, wandering the streets until her Mother sells her to a wealthy woman to become a maid in her home.  That is until Moth runs away because she is abused, and fears that she will be better off on the streets.  The thieves, pickpockets, and prostitutes; until she meets a prostitute who is giving her a way out until at least she is old enough to be able to pay the madam back for everything she has provided for her.

In the meantime, she meets a female Doctor – Dr. Sadie, who helps young women like her.  She takes Moth under her wing, gives her the tools so to speak that she needs to be able to grow up and become something other than what is in line for presently.   Moth is given the safe haven of a place that she needs to grow up, to thrive, to learn, until it is time for her to find her own destiny.  In a brothel or out in the world enjoying her life, on her own terms.

This book made me think of people today, how some things haven’t changed since those times long ago.  Sure some problems are the same, but, our choices I hope would be different.  Dr. Sadie isn’t thought of as just a woman.  Now a days, she is thought of as a member of society as is every other female doctor.  We are allowed to vote and state our opinions.  Dr. Sadie, was in her time a person who was opening the way for women to be able to do what we now know as a right, an everyday occurrence.  Ami shows us that we have come from a long line of strong women, who have paved the way to be able to enjoy the rights and freedoms that we now forget that we even have them and should pay homage to these women before us for these rights.

It just so happens, that Ami has a strong women in her family as well.  You will learn more about it and the quirky little tidbits alongside the dialogue in the pages as you read.  The customs and laws of the day she writes about.  I really had to chuckle at some of them, as they were either hard to believe or just funny, but, true.  So, if you are a historical fiction fan, and enjoy learning about some place, with a strong woman at the beginning of the 19th century, this is your book.

The Virgin Cure was chosen as the first book for the Chatelaine Book Club, where they discuss a new book every month.  To keep track of the discussions, here is a link to the forum.

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Reading Guide – Read an Excerpt

#72 – The Little Shadows – Marina Endicott

by

The Little Shadows revolves around three sisters in the world of vaudeville before and during the First World War. We follow the lives of all three in turn: Aurora, the eldest and most beautiful, who is sixteen when the book opens; thoughtful Clover, a year younger; and the youngest sister, joyous headstrong sprite Bella, who is thirteen. The girls, overseen by their fond but barely coping Mama, are forced to make their living as a singing act after the untimely death of their father. They begin with little besides youth and hope, but Marina Endicott’s genius is to show how the three girls slowly and steadily evolve into true artists even as they navigate their way to adulthood among a cast of extraordinary characters – some of them charming charlatans, some of them unpredictable eccentrics, and some of them just ordinary-seeming humans with magical gifts.

Using her gorgeous prose and extraordinary insight, Endicott lures us onto the brightly lit stage and then into the little shadows that lurk behind the curtain, and reveals how the art of vaudeville — in all its variety, madness, melodrama, hilarity and sorrow — echoes the art of life itself. - Publishers Website

I was immersed from the first page.  I loved Marina’s one  book  I had read as well, which won me a Sony reader from the CBC Book Club that I love and adore so much ! Marina was nominated for the Giller Prize in 2010 for her novel – Good To A Fault, where one question stood out for me – Would you allow people who you didn’t know into your home while a loved one was in the hospital because they had no other place to go?  I know now, it is quite difficult to say or no immediately, but, it is a valid question.  Would you?.

So, The Little Shadows follows three young sisters on their voyage to stardom to vaudeville traveling  circuit with their Mother, after their father has passed away.  This is their only means of securing money to be able to live, or to have a home to go back to.  Since their mother was in the circuit years ago, she meets friends and uses her past connections to get the girls work.  Traveling from coast to coast and to the USA for gigs. it is hard work; going from town to town where there is a theatre, auditioning, finding a place to stay that isn’t too expensive.  Along the way, friends and foes also grace the stages of these places.  Some are friendly, some are only out for themselves.

There was one particular character that I prayed would show his face again, man I disliked him so much ! I was so upset at how he treated everyone that he came into contact with.  When you read the book, tell me in the comments who you thought it was after you are finished reading it.  I am curious to see who it was you thought I was talking about.

Marina transported me back to WWI into the circuit that this and many other families have traveled.  The people made famous from doing the circuit.  The last show where everyone would possibly go their ways here and there.  The backstabbing that occurred between players and the managers of the theaters.

I still have dreams about the book, vividly imaginative, it will stay with you, or at least I wold hope so.  Marina does an absolutely magnificent job of re-creating the backdrop of the book. I loved the girls’ Mother, who like me is a single mother who is striving for a better life for her children, against the odds.  Doing everything she can and then some to make their dream a reality.  If you are a fan of Historical Fiction, this will be the book for you, like I had stated previously, I had the imagery of the whole book in my head as I read.  Even dreaming about it wasn’t so bad either !

Good To A Fault also won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, Canada and the Caribbean.

Goodreads – Marina’s Website – Read an Excerpt – Marina on Twitter

 

 

#70 – A Trick Of The Light – Louise Penny

by

“Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.”

But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow’s garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara’s solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light.  Where nothing is as it seems.  Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart.  And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they’ve found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.  – Publishers Website

I was/am so blown away by Louise’s writing.  With this being my first foray into the land of Louise Penny’s Detective Gamache’s Mystery/Thriller series, I was certainly not disappointed in the least.  She makes you so comfortable as you are sitting there engaged in the realm of the book – Three Pines.  The local celebrities, some famous, some just local ones as Clara has come back from Montreal from her very first art show which  received rave reviews. It is as if you are sitting in the local café eating a pastry and a café au lait, enjoying the people watching from afar.

The morning after is something else entirely – A woman’s body is found in her garden bed of bleeding hearts.  When Chief Inspector Gamache arrives to see the scene and the guests that have inhabited this small sleepy town ( the art scene usual suspects) nothing is at is seems.  As Clara and many others in the book have found out, they are also shocked about who this woman was, the history behind the woman, the relationship this woman has with the visitors – as well as Clara and her husband.  Is it simply a Trick of The Light?

I loved the pace at which she puts you at ease immediately – not too slow, not too fast.  She sets a comfortable rhythm, then as you have gotten comfortable, it is as if she literally rips the chair or rug out from under you – into this world of unknown, until the last word read; you are left out of breath, wondering, waiting for the next opportunity to be entrenched in her web of mystery, like an addict needing that next fix.  I don’t think I have ever been so entranced in a mystery / thriller like this in a long time.  But, I only found this out lately, I cannot wait until I have the chance to read her other work that has been previously published, and of course when the next one will be out in the world so I can devour it just as fast as I did this one.

It also happens that Louise is a fellow Canadian.

Excerpt – Reading Guide – print - online – Goodreads – Facebook – Blog – Website

#69 – Never Knowing – Chevy Stevens

by

All her life, Sara Gallagher has wondered about her birth parents. As an adopted child with two sisters who were born naturally to her parents, Sara did not have an ideal home life. The question of why she was given up for adoption has always haunted her. Finally, she is ready to take steps and to find closure.

But some questions are better left unanswered.

After months of research, Sara locates her birth mother–only to be met with horror and rejection. Then she discovers the devastating truth: Her mother was the only victim ever to escape a killer who has been hunting women every summer for decades. But Sara soon realizes the only thing worse than finding out about her father is him finding out about her.

What if murder is in your blood?

Never Knowing is a complex and compelling portrayal of one woman’s quest to understand herself, her origins, and her family. That is, if she can survive. . . . – Publishers Website

I really loved this book!! If you are a fan of mysteries/thrillers then this is the book for you.  I had read this during the summer months when the weather was anything but comfortable.  There have been many things that I have dealt with, so my apologies for posting this later than I normally would.  So, Chevy Stevens is a new to me author, but I am such a fan of how she writes…This book nearly made the hair stand up on my neck.  Almost, but no.

Sara is being stalked.  She doesn’t know by who or why.  It could be because of her past.  Her mother was raped and she was the product of that rape.  Now as an adult, she has her life  nearly complete, ready to get married to her soul mate.  She may be over reacting, but when things start to get out of control, she has no choice but to go and get help.  The thing is…it isn’t really who she thought it was…or is it ?!?

This is the perfect book to read on one of those days where you are stuck in the house, nothing is on TV and you just have to have your fix of something thrilling, mysterious, something that isn’t on TV or you have already watched 2-3 times already..you know the saying 57 channels and nothing on.  It just so happens that Chevy is a fellow Canadian as well, but she lives in the US.  I am for sure going to go and find her earlier novel – Still Missing.

Since the Halloween season is done with, you are now free to not think about ghosts and goblins at your door while reading this !

Read an excerpt – Chevy’s Website – Facebook – Chevy on Twitter


#68 – The O’Briens – Peter Behrens

by

The highly anticipated follow-up to Peter Behrens’ Governor General’s Literary Award-winning novel, The Law of Dreams.

The O’Briens follows the family from The Law of Dreams two generations later: Joe O’Brien is coming of age in a new century in remote Pontiac County, Quebec, with his two brothers and two sisters by his side. Their father has abandoned the family and died in the South African war; their frail mother has remarried the abusive and lecherous Mick Heaney. Joe and his siblings escape the poverty and violence of the Pontiac, but as Joe travels the continent, building a business and a bright young family with his wife, Iseult, he is never quite able to leave his past behind.

Told from the perspectives of Joe, Iseult, and their children and spanning the construction of the Canadian railroad as well as both world wars, this is a majestic novel that mirrors the scope and sweep of what Wilfrid Laurier calls “Canada’s Century.” Tragic, romantic, and as vivid as the novel that preceded it, The O’Briens is an epic of great heart, imagination, and narrative force.  – Publishers Website

I absolutely loved this book!  Set in a desolate part of the country where the family is poor, the mother abused by her second husband, the sons go off and start their adult lives.  Joe, being the ambitious one that he is starts off at starting his business at home doing things to keep his family afloat.  Then goes off and starts in the railway business.  As time goes on, he encounters such human debilitating sacrifices – the stillborn birth of his first child in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, Marriage, War, Love and Loss where his brother doesn’t come back as himself,  the second world war, where it touches him yet again with his own children as he is a prominent member of the City of Montreal.

I loved the way the author weaved the families circumstances from the beginning to the modern-day 1940′s where it is as if Peter has his breaking point where he goes off on one of his so-called ‘business meetings’ ; what it does to each family member.  The feelings evoked reading this will not only touch your heart but your soul as well.  Nearing the end of the book, I cried as the family has been hit with the most fervent blow – the prodigal son returning home from war…..I will leave it at that.  If you go and get this book, you will know what I mean, I don’t want to give it all away, it isn’t the point.

This is the follow-up to the best-selling novel The Law of Dreams that Peter has published previously which won the Governor’s General Award.  I haven’t read the first book, but would love to see how everything in the 2nd novel loose ends work their way out, but the 2nd is absolutely a stand alone novel if you haven’t also read the first book.

Peter’s Website – Facebook – Goodreads – Peter’s Blog

#67 – The Disciple of Las Vegas – Ian Hamilton

by

The second novel in the Ava Lee series launched under Anansi’s new crime fiction imprint, Spiderline

In The Disciple of Las Vegas, Uncle and Ava are hired by Tommy Ordonez, the richest man in the Philippines, to recover $50 million in a land swindle that took place in Canada and involves his brother. The Filipino billionaire’s reputation is on the line, and his family is on the brink of disaster.

Ava tracks the missing funds from Canada to San Francisco to accounts in Costa Rica owned by the Moneida, a First Nations band that owns and operates The River, an online poker web site. Ava uncovers an illegal online gambling ring, and follows the trail to Las Vegas. There, she confronts one of the greatest poker players in the world, David “The Disciple” Douglas, and his partner, Jeremy Ashton. Meanwhile, Jackie Leung, an old target of Uncle’s and Ava’s, has made it rich. He wants revenge, and he’s going after Ava to get it.

Will Ava save Ordonez’s family and reputation? Or will Jackie Leung get to her first?- Publishers Website

If you haven’t already read the first book in this thriller of all thrillers, I want you to go and get the first book like NOW !  Ava is back and with a vengenace.  Her Uncle has her on yet another case of embezzlement that goes from Canada to Moneida, Costa Rica, to Las Vegas where she not only finds what she is looking for, but has some unfinished business as well.  Will she be found from a previous case?  Will that person exact his revenge on her?  In book two, you will not only find that, but some back history that Ian seemlessly intregrates into this lush story of the criminal underworld, the shady dealings, money, prestige, revenge and Ava encountering something she hasn’t gotten in a long time.  Here is my previous review of The Water Rat of Wanchai, the first installment of Ava Lee.  The third book is titled The Wild Beasts of Wuhan and fingers crossed will be available in February 2012 !

Ian’s Website – Ava Lee on Twitter - Facebook – Goodreads


#53 – Up Up Up – Julie Booker

by

A radiant debut collection from Canada’s freshest new voice in fiction.

Up Up Up heralds the arrival of a writer of astonishing range, compassion and acuity. In this taut collection of twenty short, sharp stories Julie Booker grabs the reins from writers like Lydia Millet and Miranda July and takes off at full speed, and in directions all her own.

A pair of plus-sized friends make tracks for a kayaking trip in Alaska. A woman vacations with her parents at a Texas trailer park, wondering why she can’t meet a man. A worldly member of a tour group selects sacrifices from among the most cherished belongings of her fellow travellers. A young man dreams of rescuing an abusive friend’s girlfriend — and of having her for himself. Through these deceptively simple storylines, Booker reminds us of the power of words to enlighten and move us — but most of all, to delight us. Her writing is a revelation — wildly whimsical and yet razor-sharp, highly unusual and yet prompting gasps of recognition on every page. Reader, prepare to meet your new favourite writer. – Publishers Website

I really loved this book of short stories.  Julie’s fiction is one of those rare things.  Although short in stature, they contain large immeasurable acts of life.  Sure, they all may be mundane to some, she weaves the stories effortlessly, entangling you into the plot, until she is ready to let you go.  They leave you thinking what would I have done in such a situation? Would I have done exactly that? Would I have done something differently?  Other than that she also gives you some laugh out loud moments especially in the first of the stories  Geology in Motion where two women who are overweight travel to Alaska for a once in a lifetime trip with 2 girlfriends.  From the odd and somewhat quirky owner of the B and B they stay in, to the trip in kayaks to view glaciers up close…she evokes this comedic trip between 2 women who are attempting to do something different, life changing, at least in their own lives.  IF you are in the mood for some short fiction, go and get this one.  Like I stated earlier, it is good.  I cannot wait to see some of her longer fiction, she had promised me on twitter that if I wanted to read it she would write it.   Julie, this is your challenge if you choose to accept …

Follow Julie on Twitter - Goodreads

#48 – Irma Voth – Miriam Toews

by

Irma Voth entangles love, longing and dark family secrets. The stifling, reclusive Mennonite life of nineteen-year-old Irma Voth – newly married and newly deserted and as unforgettable a character as Nomi Nickel in A Complicated Kindness – is irrevocably changed when a film crew moves in to make a movie about the community.

She embraces the absurdity, creative passion and warmth of their world but her intractable and domineering father is determined to keep her from it at all costs.

The confrontation between them sets her on an irrevocable path towards something that feels like freedom as she and her young sister, Aggie, wise beyond her teenage years, flee to the city, upheld only by their love for each other and their smart wit, even as they begin to understand the tragedy that has their family in its grip.

Irma Voth delves into the complicated factors that set us on the road to self-discovery and how we can sometimes find the strength to endure the really hard things that happen. And as Gustavo, a taxi driver, says, you go on, you live and you laugh and you are compassionate toward others.

It also asks that most difficult of questions: How do we forgive? And most importantly, how do we forgive ourselves? – Publishers Website

I really loved this novel, Miriam brings together things that you wouldn’t normally hear or see – Mennonites and Mexico.  She brings them together so swiftly, that you can’t imagine them ever being from two different worlds.    Of course there is something amiss in the family to make the oldest daughter go and marry the first man she comes across just to anger her father, but as she does this something weakens, she is an outcast from the only family she is known, never to return to her family ever again.

What I wasn’t expecting what happens at the end of the novel, which, I won’t and probably ever won’t spill the beans at least on here, because,  you know that’s how I roll.  But wow it really packed a punch, just the immensity of what actually happened just blew me away.  Not only shocked, but angry that someone could do that and still not have any sort of consciousness about it, or the consequences.  I am still shaking my head as I think about that moment and a few before that…How could they do that ?!?

Anyhow, go and get it.  I read her previous novel The Flying Troutmans when it was published and absolutely loved it.  If you have read any of her other previous books, you will love this one for sure.  Trust me right?

Mini Q and A With Author Robert Rotenberg

by

I have to say this man is so busy, I cannot see where he finds the time for everything he does! I am even tired reading about it !

Without further interruption, please welcome Robert Rotenberg who has published his 2nd book entitled The Guilty Plea.  It has been released in Canada today, so go out and get it, trust me, you will love it !

With such a busy schedule, what or where, when were you hit with the writing bug? – It is hard for me to remember a time when I didn’t want to write. Tell stories. But the reality of my chaotic life, is that it wasn’t until I was finished being a magazine editor and radio producer that I really sat down to write. Logical time. I’d just started practicing law, was broke so was working about 100 hours a week, we were just having our first of three kids, and of course I was still playing hockey every Monday night. Hey, you need energy to do this job.

Have you taken some or many details from your real life cases and incorporated them into this novel or your previous one? – As you know I’m a criminal lawyer and client confidentiality is paramount. (Unfortunate sometimes, you wouldn’t believe the stories I hear. The other day a new client came in and told me…). In fact it’s not a joking matter, I would never betray a confidence.  So the stories are not from my own cases, or any others. But I truly believe the adage, that the great advantage that fiction writers have over non-fiction writers is that we can tell the truth.

Does life imitate art in some circumstances? – Well, in Old City Hall when Nancy Parish, exhausted, flops into the chair in her office and is overwhelmed by the volume of voice mails, emails, letters, demands on her time. Ask any criminal lawyer.

As the lawyer in the book, do you follow the same principles in your real life practice – not letting yourself believe or disbelieve your clients? – The best chess players always try to see the board from their opponent’s point of view.

If you could choose between being a lawyer for the rest of your life or being a writer, what would you choose? – Simon & Schuster want to sign me for two million dollars a book for the next ten years. Brad Pitt wants to star in Old City Hall, and Angelina (I call her Angie now) is dying to play Sam in The Guilty Plea. John Grisham and Scott Turow want to spend the winter with me in Hawaii working on the screenplay.  I think I’ll go back to bail court (where I was on Monday) for a few more clients.

If you had died and had the chance to come back as anyone or anything you wanted what would it be? Why? – See answer to question 5

What is the one talent besides writing would you want to have? – A better slap shot. Thirty years of playing hockey and it still sucks. But hey, I’m an excellent passer.

If you could live in one place in the whole world where would it be? Why? – Paris me manque. With money this time.

I see on your website that you volunteer for a Rehab Clinic in Toronto.  What was the main reason you decided to go this route?  Have you seen  the worst case scenario ever, and the person has turned around to make a full recovery and a good representation of being clean and sober? – I am the least addictive person you will ever meet. But for 20 years I’ve seen people and families torn apart and destroyed by addiction. And yes, I am extremely proud to say that I’ve seen so many of my clients totally turn their lives around. It is the greatest part of my job.

Do you have any pet-peeves? What would they be? – Those tiny tea pots you get in restaurants that always spill no matter what you do. The way we treat poor people in this rich city.