The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

Abandoned by her husband Archibald, who left her for a secretary, shortly after the death of her mother, Agatha Christie disappeared for around 11 days in December 1926. Police, mediums, the famous Arthur Conan Doyle, everyone was looking for her all over England. After she was found, she confessed of being unaware where she was, a psychological effect of double trauma and sudden shock. 

In the vein of a late trend in historical fiction, Nina de Gramont built a story that focuses on the lover, a peripheral figure that received a voice of her own. The Christie Affair may only talk about Agatha, the famous and beloved one, and this only from the voice of Nan, the forgotten one, revealing a different story, with a motivation - no matter how wrong - and an equally important traumatic episode of the children stolen by the Irish Catholic Church from unmarried mothers. This sitution touched between 60,000 and 80,000 and lasted until late 1990s.

In between the back and forth from Nan´s story and Agatha´s wheareabouts after her disappearance, there is also a sweet crime twists that almost woke me up when the pace was too slow and not sure where it was leading to. 

The writing is very engaging, focused on ambiance and psyhological details and a rich historical background, covering the Irish episode, but also the trauma of the post War I soldiers. The characters are talking to the reader with an authentic refined voice.

I was interested in the book as was looking for some new authors and topics outside my immediate area of interest, but the reading dragged for a week, with an interest that varied from low to adverse - as I took the Nan characters too personally. As my next reads are historical fiction, this book just opened my voracious reading appetite for more nuances and fictional perspectives.

Rating: 3 stars

Random Things Tours: Faculty of Liars by R.L.Heber

Elizabeth Harker may be the wife of America´s most powerful university president, but she has a dark secret to hide. As her lover is killed the day she is expected to deliver a worldwide important speech, her involvement in solving the case may be limited due to their secret affair. More questions and doubts arise, the wider the web of lies that seems to cover the glamour she and her fellow academics falsely surrounded themselves.

Faculty of Liars by R.L.Heber - who also writes as journalist and novelist Rebecca Thornton - is a dark academic thriller happening in one of the most unexpected location to place a thriller. This was what actually attracted me to the book in the first place, but I definitely stayed for the smart plot and the surprising connections between characters. 

In the end, it delivered more than I ever expected. I loved the dribbling wih the secret Elizabeth was forced to play, and although not surprised, experienced directly the gradual disenchantment with the academic world. I am relatively familiar with it too, although murder is a bit beyond my expectations as well.

I was enchanted by the precise writing and the smart planning of the plot, and felt relatively satisfied with the ending. It was a tense and twists-rich read that was definitely worth my time and involvement.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Camping by Lavinia Braniște

Sofia, a Romanian who left in Spain for 20 years, is approaching her retirement. Living in the camping where she took care of the reception and basic maintenance, she is getting ready to return to her small town in the Eastern part of the country, where her 90-year old father and son are waiting for her. But would she find her place there? Are they actually waiting for her, or for her help? She has no strong friendships left in any of the countries, she spent most of her life working, saving money for purchasing an apartment for her son. 

Camping by Lavinia Braniște is my second book by this Romanian author and my first book in Romanian this year. I may confess that I´ve found the wording a bit awkward, and clumsy, with words that I had to think twice before figuring out what they mean. It may be that my Romanian is sometimes rusty and I seldom read literature, but this is part of my personal linguistic investigation. Also, who may call her son, in the second decade of 2000s, in a moment of anger ´You, communist!´?

As many people having left their home lands and with them, their mother tongue, while not fully acquiding the language of their new country, Sofia is caught in between worlds that none may look closer. Her speaking is mixing Spanish words used for everyday use. My observation as a translator from and into few languages is that there are usually the words relevant for work or bureaucratic conformity retained in the local language and the more you use the less relevant the translation.

Her son, Robert, whom she left with her father when he was four, took him to Spain for a short amount of time before he requested to return, has a different take on life, although with the same result. He is living the moment, trying to work less and earn more, selling the apartment his mother bought to invest in crypto and lose. Sofia, on her side, is actively observing, but is not consumed by the hunger of living more, of challenging her current situation.

The objects Sofia collected, as milestones for her human interactions and her 20 years in Spain, are shipped back home. It is a reminder for the time spent here, they are small memories in her life. Each insignificant souvenir tells a story of an encounter. 

Personally, I was hoping/wishing that Sofia is staying. That in a turn of destiny something happens and she take control of her life and is not coming back. 

Her story is an iteration of many other lifes of individuals, Romanians for instance, who left their countries because of social, economic and politic circumstances. The fragments from Facebook groups of ´Romanians in Spain´ are outlining the interactions in the new country. (Once I´ve watched some posts by ´Romanians in Germany´ and the interactions sounded so similar, almost copied/pasted). They are not heroes, but driven by survival and a normal life refused by their home countries. Some may stay, some cannot wait to return.

Camping was a deeply sad book it will stay with me longer. I hope to read other books in Romanian this year, but need to do a bit of extra research first for finding relevant topics for my daily interests.

Rating: 4 stars

Random Things Tours: Confessions of a Crime Writer by Louise Mangos

One year after discovering Louise Mangos, I am back with her latest: Confessions of a Crime Writer, an ironic take on the publishing industry through the story of a funny and motivated crime writer in the making. 

Socially awkward Nigel has a dream of becoming a crime writer. Decided to go far beyond his sheltered life under the control of his eccentric mother he is planning step by step his literary escape. But instead of focusing on his coming bestseller, he is confronting a completely different reality as he is haunted by unexpected events from an accidental murder to a misuse of intellectual property.

Confessions... may be read as a humorous account but in the end, the tragedy is luring behind the challenges that he and some of his fellow writers are facing when confronted with the complicated requirements of the publishing industry. Publish or die, maybe, but some will really die for being published. Or killed, to be more direct.

This book, as any good book, can be read in more than one way and it is generally a pleasure for the reader. The story alongside with the characters and the philosophical meta-text(s) are coming along seamlessly, 

A recommended read for the writer and the crime lover as well.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru

It was long since I´ve read something by Hari Kunzru but Blue Ruin, the last from the so-called ´colour trilogy´ - which includes also White Tears ad Red Pill, none of them I´ve read so far - come just at the right time. 

We are entering the story at the beginning of Covid, with details about the characters´ masks and their positioning shared from the first lines. Jay, a Black-British once promising rising star of the London art scene at the end of the 1990s, now an illegal food delivery driver, meets his big love Alice, 20 years after he disappearance with one of his art comrades, now her husband. Sick and weak, she invites him to temporarily stay in a cottage near the house where they were temporarily hosted during the pandemic. 

Similarly like in the Decameron, also set during a pandemic, the characters - a gallerist with a penchant for guns and his girlfriend, always on her mobile - are random, although some of them were once part of the same art clique. and their interactions may took, towards the end of the story, absurd turns. 

Jay´s musings about art - as an existential manifesto - are by far the most challenging and interesting intellectually.  The questions that Jay following the train of thought about the artist being the art. The encounter between Jay and Alice, 20 years after is fortuitous but what about if it was part of a life happening project he authored?

I´ve felt at ease in the world of ideas and art-related and artists challenges. Jay´s backstory is very rich in events and ideas, and details about clashes between clase and race, but found the rest of the story - the present tense one - less tied together, as it has a life of its own, but written in a relatively different vein.

I am clearly curious about reading the other parts of the trilogy as well as other books by Kunzru, as both his writing and his repertoire of topics are very appealing for my current literary interests.

Rating: 4 stars

Rachel´s Random Resources: The Book Lover´s Bucket List by Hannah Claire

Books with bookish characters are a delight for my bookish soul. Books talking about bookish challenges with a spice of romance, even better.

The Book Lover´s Bucket List by Hannah Claire is based in Derbyshire and has a very quiet countryside vibe that suits very much people looking for love in the pages of a book. A fnny bet between two people, Gabriella and Zach. One secretly in love with the other. But as their challenge continues, they may find out things about each other that need to be tackled differently as in a book. Indeed, books are fun, but did you try real life?

I really enjoyed the reading, as well as the characters and some of their secrets. I loved the premise of Zach and Gabriella story, that love, real love, is between two real persons, no matter how beautiful the book their hearts can write looks like. This is a challenge many book lovers may encounter, realizing that, in the end, the love means a bit more and a bit less of everything.

As for the cover, it is worth mentioning the artsy calligraphy of the title which is sweetly matching the intense pastel colours of the images. 

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Quello Che Ti Nascondevo by Marina di Guardo

Due to work and summer-related reasons, my reading slowed down the last weeks, and will keep this pace until the end of August probably. I am operating right now at a bare minimum level, covering mostly my spots of the book tours while spending the rest of my summer days out in the sun - most probably reading and thinking about new projects.

But I still have projects to work on, and one of them is improving my Italian at a highly professional level. A mission partly accomplished this year, with an increasing number of books in Italian that I had the chance to read. 

My latest one was a women-centered thriller, writen by Marina di Guardo, the mother of the famous Italian infuencers Chiara and Valetina Ferragni, herself an active user and consumer of social media: Quello Che Ti Nascodevo/What I was hiding from you.  

One year after the death of his beloved Allegra, in an accident in the mountains, Giacomo uses to listen to her old audio messages. But as he catches the voice of a man calling her ´baby´, his life is shuttered. The more he dives into his wife´s past, the more shocking the revelation of her infidelity. But no matter how disturbing the revelations, he doesn´t stop trying to find him. And as some of the women he dated - as a married man, with a Tinder profile - are also found dead, he is on a mission trying to solve the mystery of their murder.

The reading is suspenseful although some coincidences - too many to count - are weakening the plot. I was caught by the beginning and shocked by the ending. Although the main storyteller is a man, Giacomo, the women do play the most important role in the story: their betrayal, expectations and the violence they often are submitted to. The childhood trauma is alongside the topic of the violence against women are very important topic framed in the story, reflected not only into the history of the characters but strongly motivating their acts. 

From the point of view of the vocabulary, I´ve learned a lot of new slang words, mostly relevant for Milano area where the action is taking part. There may be better thrillers around, but this one resonated with me for the women-focus and modern takes on couple and relationships.

My Italian journey continues.

Rating: 3 stars

Compusive Readers Blogtours: The Kill Switch by Robert Peston

 

As Stela Barnsbury, UK´s (fictional) prime minister suddenly dies during a podcast with famous (fictional) political journalist Gil Peck, he is on a mission to find out the culprit as well as the cause of her death. But as usual in such cases, an easy answer is rarely the right answer, therefore, the journey will take Peck and us, the readers, alongside a race against time that may touch upon very sensitive parts of the political and business underworld.

Maybe we can read something about our future in this case, as the case may involve also some unexpected AI-generated details. Few years ago, this would have been a serious reason to categorize this book as beloging to the science fiction genre. Nowadays though, it is more realistic than ever. 

The reading was thrilling, largely surprising thanks to the very detailed plot. The relatable political layer adds political depth to the narrative. Like the author himself, Peck is a secular Jew, trying to understand the current state of affairs and eventually figure out the next new important society challenge - from pandemics to corporate crime and Artificial Intelligence.

For me, it was the first encounter with Peston´s work. The book is part of a trilogy featuring Peck, and although it can be read without necessarily reading all the books in the row, I am very much tempted to read the other two books as well. 

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own 

Rachel´s Random Resources: Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker

I love the feeling of summer, and books set during those - short but intense, for Europe - month are automatically included on my reading list - which is getting huge by the day.

Two rival PR agencies, two pitches, but only one has to succeed. Two enemies that cannot figure out their lives outside their fancy work. A secure work that may be endangered if the pitch is missed. Escape to the Turquoise Seas by Carrie Walker, an author I´ve featured on my blog before, introduces us to two lovely corporate characters, Kat and Leo. Each other´s nemesis caught in a professional fight while cruising Azores, Lisbon and Madeira. And the rest may be just history.

What a lovely place to fight for your pitch...And what funny characters to engage with (although in real life, if they would have our immortal lives, they may have think differently, especially about each other). The reading is engaging, and belongs to a professional world I always love to keep a foot in: highly competitional, glamorous at times, but involving a lot of hard and sustained work.

As for the travel part, I was just taking notes...as my summer plans are always work in process.

A recommended read for a cute rom-com, written with passion in a charming surrounding.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: Mandarin Road by Ann Bennett

I am very careful in picking up historical fiction novels, but once I am falling for an author, I may just keep following up with all of their titles. As for now, I´ve read already two novels by Ann Bennett, and couldn´t miss discovering her newest one, Mandarin Road. 

Bennett remains in the Asian realm, with a stand alone novel with a dual timeline. Set between North Carolina and Vietnam, with Nicole embarked on a journey to meet her long-lost sister. Following the death of her beloved father, she tried to reveal the secret life of his father, during his dispatch in South Vietnam.

As in the case of the other books by Bennett I had the chance to read, the historical timeline allows the presence of individual characters. The impressive historical background is not intimidating, but rather allows the characters to develop and tell their own stories. They influence and shape, without dominating. 

It was an enjoyable well-written book about a very emotional topic handled with care and empathy.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: A Death in the Gym by Patrick Hardy

Josh, a part-time personal trainer, part-time private detective, is tasked to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young lady, 20 years prior. But it seems the crime stories are following him as at the same time a crime was committed at the gym where he is training. As his discrete investigations unfolds, there are way too many signs coming to close from home. Would Josh succeed to properly interprete the messages?

A Death in the Gym by Patrick Hardy (himself also a certified personal trainer, in addition to being a qualified lawyer) is nothing close to a cosy crime. Although at the beginning there are separate stories, ordered chronologically, shared by characters that may have no connection to each other, in fact there are so many fragments matching each other.

I may confess that I was not sure what to expect from this novel, but it was clearly worth giving a try. The plot is eventful and the twists are carefully placed, exactly when you expected them less. The fact thaat we, as readers, have no idea where the story is heading to is a very welcomed feeling for a crime mystery and in my case it worked very well by keeping me interested in the next 

A recommended read for a long summer evening. I´ve read it in one sitting and I didn´t regret it.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Colour of Home by Tammye Huf

The history of race in the USA raises so many questions and paradoxes. I keep wondering how was it possible to maintain the segregation politics for such a long time. Black Americans fought for the USA during WWII, however, their dedication and sacrifice did not challenged automatically the overall politics of discriminations against them.

This topic appears in the well-written The Colour of Home by Tammye Huf. The book starts in 1941 in a segregated Florida, where three Black boys enlisted to fight in the war. Faced with those circumstances, Cora will marry fast, but her heart will always long for the man who loves - other than the one who marries. Four years after, they return back home, changed by the experience of the war. They are changed, and their new grasp on life - and death - are about to change Cora´s life as well, in ways there is no point of return any more.

The writing is of an exquisite beauty, with an extraordinary finesse of describing places and feelings, human beliefs and challenges. As a reader, you belong to the story and what happens to the characters cannot leave you indifferent: you connect with them, you want to be their friend or to warn them. It is such a magic ambiance created by Huf´s writing that I rarely encounter in books published lately.

At the same time, the historical and social context is also reflecting through the different perspectives of the characters, a technique also relevant for the story and characters complexity.

The Colour of Home was an exceptional literary surprise from an author I hope to have the chance to read more soonn.

The cover deserves a special mention as well, for the nostalgic tones and atmospheric outlook.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin translated by Claire Richards

 

Feel-good stories may differ from one language to another because such feelings are usually culturally defined. I am reading and reviewing many books belonging to this genre, however the authors and stories do belong to the European/North American realm. This week though, I decided to make a difference by discovering a raising star of the Korean literature Yeon Somin, whose local bestseller The Healing Season of Pottery was translated into English by Claire Richards. 

After an extended amount of time - count months - of inactivity following her unemployment, the scriptwriter Jungmin discovers accidentaly Soyo Studio, a pottery workshop. Intrigued, she is starting a year-long experience of learning to use clay and build her own pottery, while reconnecting with and revisiting episodes from her professional and personal past life.

Jungmin is often ´basking in her loneliness´ and and the healing - hers but also of other participants - is slow, as slow as the process of learning to properly use the clay. The reactions between the characters, and how their small community is building is by far the most important part of the story, as it opens up to a very different dynamics compared to what I am used with. 

My knowledge about the innner and social life in South Korea - was confirmed again after reading this book - is extremely limited hence my difficulties in grasping some interactions, including of Romantic interest - between characters. 

From the point of view of the book construction, I had the feeling more than once that the characters are lacking any complexity. It is understandable that they were limited by the choice of location - the pottery workshop - and their own loneliness, but did not see any reason why they are lacking any depth as humans.

Clearly I need more information and contacts with the Korean culture, and the feel-good novels may be a direct way to get to know the people and their wishes. I will be back hopefully with more topics soon and The Healing Season of Pottery, despite its shortcomings, opened up an interesting door for me.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Rachel´s Random Resources: Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by Sue Moorcroft

With the vacation wind blowing on all sides, all my thoughts are on Italy right now. The more I read Itallian and thinking about Italy, I don´t see any better place to wind down after a very busy full year of work. My plans are not 100% confirmed, but there are always books to keep the passion alive.

Secrets of the Italian Guesthouse by romantic bookselling author Sue Moorcroft brought into my weekend not only a beautiful story, with realistic characters, but also the dream of ...an Italian guesthouse at Lake Como.

Jade is managing together with her grandmother Mairead, a cosy lodging, and everything looks like picture perfect. The death of her beloved grandmother will bring though a lot of dramatic and traumatic changes into her life, as she may discover that she has two sisters that, among other things, are part of the inheritance. As she is navigating her new challenges, there is also an old flame that seems to be back into her world. How could she cope with so many new situations at once?

This book, the first part of a trilogy, is a very sweet and relatable read. Particularly the characters are so real that you may forget that in the end you deal with the work of imagination. It also made me think a lot about how life can change suddenly, from one day to another, in ways impossible to fathom.

An inspiring summer read.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: A Wordsmith´s Guide to Authentic Dialogue by Elizabeth M. Hurst

As a reader and occasional writer I find dialogues the most important part of a novel. Without them, the story is missing the backbone. When they are lacking proper crafting, the entire story is compromised. 

A Wordsmith´s Guide to Writing Authentic Dialogue by Elizabeth M. Hurst whose advice for writers I had the chance to share previously, is aimed at helping to understand the dynamics of  dialogue and practice it correctly. As in the case of the book dedicated to building the plot, the reader is invited to practice through exercises and to expand their knowledge through further reading.

In this book, you will learn about tools, techniques, strategies that can, among others, fill the gaps between what is said and what is meant. ´Dialogue is a crat shell, not a personality trait´. Therefore, be patient and do not expect to have your dialogues ready in the first draft. It may take much longer until your dialogues reveal the essence of your story or novel.

The examples mostly refer to the British English, but you clearly apply the information to US English or any other languages as well. The value of the information shared is universal.

A Wordsmith´s Guide to Writing Authentic Dialogue is a very useful and well-organised guidance for preparing the interactive part of your novel. You can read it chapter by chapter, and carefully apply its advice.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

The Yahoo Boys by Carlos Barragán

´If I´m sorry, how I gotta get money?´

A single mother of three, the mother of Carlos Barragán attempted to find new love again. Through a dating app, she ´met´ a love interest that proved to be a scam who wanted her money. Barragán is using this personal experience to document an overwhelming phenomenon of dating scams, that I had the chance more than once to touch upon and share through nonfictional and fictional accounts. 

The Yahoo Boys. Real Life  with the Love Scammers of Lagos (Yahoo boys because of the email provider usually used by the scammers) is the result of the author´s experience of months living and talking with the scammers. Mostly young men - but also few women - they mostly operate individually, driven by the need of a glamorous life, where success is weighted by the power of pursuing white victims. 

Barragán offers an unique insight into the world and mind of people involved in scamming. Although the victims´ stories are playing an important role in the story, the reasons and ways of acting of the actors is more relevant. For both sides, there is a certain depth of the loneliness that Barragán is aptly outlining. It is a cruel world and although it is possible to stay afloat and avoid turning on the wrong side, sometimes it may be just easier.

This book is an important investigation in the world of scams, a reference for any further discussions on the topic. It reads both as a real crime story and a testimony of contemporary life. Some of the stories shared are so sad that sometimes needed a break in-between to collect my thoughts.

Rating: 5 stars 

Die Kollaborateure by Katrina Tuvera translated into German by Jan Karsten

I am struggling always with keeping straight with my plans, but there is one that I always follow carefully: expanding my knowledge on world authors and literature. Last year, the Philippines was the guest of honor at Frankfurt Book Fair, but my first Filipino author ever arrived on my reading desk only six month later.

Die Kollaborateure - The Collaborators - by Katrina Tuvera was translated into German by Jan Karsten. In a bit over 200 pages, around 100 years of history are covered, shared from the point of view of a family experiencing various events, such as the Japanese occupation to the martial law and the Marcos dictatorship. 

Just before an important surgery, Carlos Armando is rememorating his life, projected against the tormented historical background. Seen from the standpoint of a particular family, the account is more intimate than a simple historical overview, allowing at the same time to discuss concepts like collaboration and complicity, without which individual survival in adverse collective environments is almost impossible.

I´ve found the approach and the context very interesting, bringing up interesting historical facts and moral takes. However, from the literary point of view, I´ve found the book structure as well as the dialogues not necessarily rich. Maybe it was also a result of the translation.

In any case, I am glad to finally be able to include a new country on my literary map, a step that hopefully will be followed by many more.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Random Things Tours: The Nanny by Heather Burnside

 

The Nanny by Manchester-based bestseller author Heather Burnside starts very slowly, introducing the reader to such a homely ambiance that I´ve asked myself few times when the crime is about to lure. Or the psychological suspense. Alex and Amanda are a young family, with a young son that just hired a nanny to take over some of the daily chores.

Few pages later, there is a crime promise luring. Because the nanny, Katelyn, is there for a mission, as she has a past with Alex. A very tormented one, in fact. As she is making her way in the family´s life, her obsession with Alex is taking unexpected turns.

The background stories of the characters, as revealed by the author are interesting and their flaws made them human and relatable. (Although, I would really love to never deal with someone like Katelyn, to be honest.)

What is shocking and twists the dynamics between characters is the simplistic and toxic idea Katelyn has on love and relationships. Alex is a very antipathic character: weak, dishonest, unable to control his reactions and to restrain Katelyn.

Both Alex and Amanda, although at different extents, are hiding their own secrets and blurry past and this web of lies they are entangled to is clearly affecting their relationship. It would have been so easy to just be honest with each other... For the reader, those revelations and twists are keeping the interest high for the next possible evolutions. The relationship between Alex and Amanda looks so empty at times and it´s really hard to figure out what really brought and is keeping them together. 

The episodes regarding domestic violence against women are strong enough to make us aware of the gravity yet everyday normality of such topics. 

As for the ending, it was really worth waiting for it. 

A recommended thoughtful read for psychological crime lovers.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own