Raven Girl by Audrey Niffenegger ★★★★ ½

FLIGHT OF BEAUTIFUL FANCY

           My ten and twelve year old boys are, sadly, at an age where they don’t want me to read to them anymore.  In fact, thanks to iPads, X-boxes and cable TV, they don’t even want to read themselves anymore.

            However, they both expressed interest in me reading them “Raven Girl”.  In the end, my hubby sat in and for several nights our family eagerly anticipated the next reading.  Reading this book with them was a wonderful experience.  First they wanted to read it; then they didn’t want me to stop. They loved the story and wanted it read again.  A miracle.

           “Once there was a Postman who fell in love with a Raven.” 

           The opening line in this modern-day, dark, fairy tale begins a marvelous tale of a postman who “thought he had seen just about everything Her Majesty’s Postal Service could offer in the way of danger and difficulty, hilarity and boredom”.  When he rescues a baby raven, which has fallen from her nest, they fall in love and eventually have a baby raven girl who has human form but speaks in raven.  Like any child, the raven girl is not happy with herself and seeks to be transformed.

            Niffenegger has collaborated with Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor to produce a ballet based on this book. It premiered at the Royal Opera House in London in May 2013.

                Audrey Niffenegger was on my list of beloved authors before this book.  Her first novel, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” was an international best-seller and her second book, a ghost story entitled “Her Fearful Symmetry”, is in my Top reads.

           Niffenegger puts words together from which spin magic.   She is also a talented artist. In “Raven Girl”, she not only wrote a charming tale, she also illustrated it beautifully using the 17th century technique of aquatint, which uses metal, acid, wax and rosin to achieve delicate tone and detailed images.

          Anyone, any age reading this will fall in love with the tale of the “Raven Girl”.  It is a book of exceptional beauty and one to treasure.

My review copy of RAVEN GIRL thanks to the hardworking people at RANDOM HOUSE Australia.

Release Dates: Australia and New Zealand: May 2013

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For purchasing details and more information:   click here

Visit the official website for Audrey Niffenegger

Read a free chapter of RAVEN GIRL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Audrey Niffenegger is an exceptionally creative writer and visual artist who has achieved enormous success in both worlds. Her debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, has sold more than seven million copies worldwide and has been translated into forty languages. A Richard & Judy book club choice in the UK, it has been a huge bestseller all round the world. In the Daily Telegraph's readers' poll of the 'Top 50 Books of All Time' it appeared at no. 11. Niffenegger is also the author of two 'novels-in-pictures', The Three Incestuous Sisters(2005) and The Adventuress (2006), both published by Cape. Her graphic novel The Night Bookmobile was serialized in the Guardian and published on the Cape Graphic list.
A Chicago native, Niffenegger received her MFA in Printmaking and Drawing from Northwestern University. Her art has been widely exhibited in the United States and is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress and Harvard University's Houghton Library.

Devil in the Hole by Charles Salzberg ★★★★

Into the mind of a murderer

Reviewed by Tracy Harris

          James Kirkland is not your typical nosy neighbor. So, when he notices all of the lights blazing in his neighbors house, he’s curious but not curious enough to knock on the door and inquire after their health.  He is inquisitive enough to notice that the lights are slowly burning themselves out. 

          
         A phone call to the police results in the discovery of the gruesome murders of an entire family including the dog, minus one member. John Hartman, husband, son and father of three is missing and all evidence points to him as the prime suspect.

          We are given an unusual insight, discovering the story through the eyes of a cast of characters who have their own individual opinion on the man who is John Hartman. From the senior investigator who has become obsessed with apprehending Hartman, to his former mistress, to past work colleagues and even his postman.  Even Hartman's side of the story is revealed through his viewpoint; a man who has committed the unthinkable crime and managed to elude authorities but not himself.

          Based on a true story, the John List murders, reading the first page to Devil in the Hole is like having just one potato chip. You simply must have more.

        Read this book if you want to treat yourself to a novel that is different, a novel not told from the traditional single viewpoint, but through multiple character’s viewpoints. I felt this allowed an opportunity to discover each individual's opinion of Hartman, through their own distinct and unique interactions.  This way we have an opportunity to attempt to understand how such a horrendous crime impacts everyone.

Thank you to author Charles Salzberg who contacted us directly and supplied a copy of his novel. 

PURCHASING DETAILS:   Click here
IN AUSTRALIA: Click Here
                                                          

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Charles Salzberg is a New York-based novelist, journalist and acclaimed writing instructor.

          A celebrated and popular creative writing teacher, he has been a Visiting Professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College, the Writer's Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member. He is a consulting editor at the webzine Ducts.org and co-host, with Jonathan Kravetz, of the reading series, Trumpet Fiction, at KGB in New York City.

          Visit Charles' website here.

SHIFT by Hugh Howey ★ ★ ★★★

READ MY FASCINATING INTERVIEW WITH HUGH HOWEY: CLICK HERE

A MASTER STORYTELLER STRIKES AGAIN

The beautiful blue covered book that is SHIFT, prequel to Hugh Howey’s mega-hit WOOL, sat on my bedside table for a week; not because I didn’t want to read it but I was simply delaying gratification.  I knew once I started it, I would devour the 576 pages in a few days and then I would be forced to leave the world of Howey’s Silo and would have to wait months until the final book in the trilogy was released. 

It’s hard to find eloquent words to describe my love for the genius of Hugh Howey.  Reading his work reminds me of how I felt almost forty years ago when I first read Stephen King’s CARRIE.  For me, no author has ever measured against Master King’s writing. There are many great writers who have penned wonderful books but Howey and King have one thing in common. They are storytellers before they are writers.

Even more exciting is that Howey is one of the new breed of Indie Hybrid authors, self-publishing his e-books and licensing the paper-book distribution rights to  major publishers. So, he can write and deliver great reads quickly; no more waiting for the publishing world’s limit of one release a year.

SHIFT takes us back to the beginning before Wool; before the world was laid waste and toxic by something that happened sixty years ago, forcing the few thousand remaining human beings to live in two hundred storey silos.  The silos are layered with not only physical levels but political and social stratas and are governed under strict rule.  None of the Silo inhabitants remember what happened before. 

Whilst reading Wool, (which I recommend reading before Shift) there were what you could presume were plot-holes (as it turns out they were purposely there). These are resolved in Shift as we travel from the destruction of Earth to the monotonous existence of the inhabitants of Silo One who are cryogenically frozen and awakened for their shifts of varying lengths.

This new world and its progression through several hundred years is told through the stories of various characters: the engineer who unwittingly designed the silos, a shift worker who remembers fragments of another life, a courier who becomes embroiled in an uprising, a child trapped for years in a computer safe room.

It is science fiction work but it crosses genres ingeniously and the reason for Howey’s huge success is the human stories he tells. Through his wonderful and rich characters Howey challenges us to contemplate hope and humanity.   Just like King’s millions of loyal fans who read every book he releases, there will be few initiates to the Howey style who will not continue to follow him wherever he chooses to write. And that’s the kind of passion a good story-teller evokes.  

My review copy of Shift thanks to the hardworking people at RANDOM HOUSE Australia.

For more information please visit http://www.randomhouse.com.au
Release Dates: Australia and New Zealand: May 2013

To purchase:   click here

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hugh Howey is the author of Wool, a bestselling novel that has appeared in the top 5 of science fiction on Amazon. He is also the author of the award-winning Molly Fyde Saga. He lives in Boone, N.C. with his wife Amber and their dog Bella.

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THE MIDWIFE'S TALE by Sam Thomas ★★★★

Reviewed by Tracy Harris

In the early 1600s, a woman’s role was easily categorised as that of being a wife and mother. Nothing more, nothing less.  Except in the case of twice widowed Lady Bridget Hodgson, who serves her community in the role of midwife, tending to ladies and maids and everyone in between.

York in 1644 is not a pleasant place, even for an educated and wealthy woman such as Bridget. A civil war is splitting the country in two, and Parliament’s forces are at the city’s walls.  In the midst of this uncertainty, one of Bridget’s friends is accused of murdering her husband, an act of petty treason. Esther Cooper begs Bridget to help prove her innocence and save her life.

Appalled at the way Esther’s trial is handled and at the attitude of the Lord Mayor, Bridget finds herself drawn towards proving Esther’s innocence, and her life, ably assisted by her new maid, Martha Hawkins. For a lady’s maid, Martha has an unusual skill set and understanding of the seedier side of life which comes in surprisingly useful in a city under siege, where unsavoury characters lurk around corners and danger comes in all shapes and sizes.

Samuel Thomas has captured his female protagonist with a realistic hand, keeping her wit and wisdom fresh and believable. His enthusiasm for Reformation history keeps the story flowing without becoming bogged down in dreary details. Samuel based his character Bridget on a midwife by the same name who practiced in York and whose Will can found online at the Borthwick Institute for Historical Research website.

However the most unique aspect of this book is its historical accuracy as far as midwifery. We are taken on a journey into a world that exists no longer, but was an integral and essential part of life in the 1600s. As a midwife, Bridget is not only responsible for bringing new life into her world, but for interrogating single mothers and ensuring the fathers’ of their children take responsibility for their actions.

A mystery with a unique setting, The Midwife’s Tale is certainly a novel worth exploring, if you like facts along with your fiction.

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WHAT’S FOR DINNER by Curtis Stone ★★★★

GORGEOUS CHEF, GORGEOUS FOOD

Okay let’s address the elephant in the room.  Curtis Stone is gorgeous isn’t he?  He is the image of the Australian male I would like us Aussies to be known for around the world.  This is opposed to the long-haired, flip-flop wearing, beer guzzler larrikin that is held up on a regular basis. 

He’s a charming, enthusiastic guy who cooks, and any girl would be pleased to take him home to their Mum.  A Swiss guest in my house picked up the book the day it arrived and with a big smile on her face, asked, “Who is this Curtis Stone?”  Hear the emphasis on “this” and you will understand why she asked.  “And he’s Australian?” she said after I answered her.  “Hmmm.”

Calm down now ladies because, sadly, he married in June 2013.  If the pictures in his latest cookbook, “WHAT’S FOR DINNER?” are anything to go by, actress Lindsay Price, his wife, is just as gorgeous and lovable as him. 

They have a beautiful son Hudson, born on November 6, 2011 and photos of the family feature throughout the book.  The photos are delightful and several friends oohed an ahhed over the family shots at a recent dinner.

Curtis knows we are busy.  Personally, my feet rarely touch the ground between running the taxi-driver service after school, writing commitments and catching up with friends and family.  Is anyone else’s diary, whether you have kids or not, any different these days?   So we want good easy-to-make food to fuel us.

“Dinners at my house were all about being together,” says Curtis in the book’s introduction and I agree.   We’re not a fast-food family either.  So, we cook most nights and really try to vary our menu.

There are more than one hundred and thirty delicious recipes in “WHAT’S FOR DINNER?” and having trialed quite a few we (my husband loves to cook too) found them very easy to follow.  Publishers send cookbooks to non-chefs like me because if I can use them anyone can.

Each sections is separated into days of the week: Motivating Mondays, Time-Saving Tuesdays, One Pot Wednesdays, Thrifty Thursdays, Five-Ingredient Fridays, Dinner-Party Saturdays, Family Supper Sundays and finally Something Sweet.

On each recipe page Curtis has added his own little story on the meal; where he first came upon it, why he chose it and ‘Curtis’s Kitchen Notes’ with hints and tips. It’s almost like having him in the kitchen with you. The meal pictures are beautiful and mouth-watering and he’s created some new takes on classic recipes.

If you can’t have Curtis Stone in your home (I know I am only just coming to terms with that) this book is a lovely stand-in. Who knows, with such easy recipes, maybe the man of your house may become inspired. Then you, too, will have your own version of Curtis in no time.

P.S. Would make a lovely gift for Mum or a friend. Next time you are invited to dinner, don’t bring wine or chocolates, bring ‘Curtis’.

My review copy of Curtis Stone’s What’s For Dinner? thanks to the gorgeous people at RANDOM HOUSE Australia.

Release Dates: Australia and New Zealand: May 2013

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For purchasing details and more information:   click here

Useful Links

Visit Curtis Stones' official website
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Curtis Stone is a chef, author and TV personality. His philosophy is to cook as Mother Nature intended—buy local, seasonal and organic ingredients, keep recipes simple and allow the food to speak for itself.

It’s a world Curtis already knows well. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Curtis’s passion for food was inspired as a boy by his mother’s baking and his grandmother’s famous fudge. Mid-way through business school he left to don his first apron at the Savoy Hotel in Melbourne and later honed his skills in London under legendary three-star Michelin genius Marco Pierre White at Café Royal, Mirabelle and the revered Quo Vadis.

Curtis appeared in a number of cooking programs in the UK before hosting three seasons of Surfing the Menu in Australia—an instant international hit which caught the eye of US producers. This led to his own US series Take Home Chef on TLC in 2006, which has since been enjoyed in more than 70 countries.

Inspiring home cooks is Curtis’ vision as he works selectively with grocery stores to improve fresh produce offerings, devise recipe cards and help families think seasonally, shaping the nation and their shopping habits. As he loves to point out: "when you walk down the street and someone comes up and says, ‘You know what? We never used to cook fish in our house. Since we’ve tried that salmon recipe we have it once a week.’ The feeling that gives you is worth a million other things."

Curtis lives in Los Angeles with partner Lindsay Price and their son Hudson, born in November 2011.

The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell ★★★★

Reviewed by Mel Hearse   Meet Mel

I went into this book with no expectations, so finding myself up into the wee small hours, completely gripped by the story and unable to put it down until I finished was a pleasant surprise.

The basics? Five friends stumble upon an abandoned lakeside cottage hidden deep in the English countryside on a hot summer’s day in the eighties. Having just graduated college, they decide to take something of a gap year, moving into the cottage, living off the land and dropping out of mainstream society. All is initially well, but as the seasons change, tensions begin to rise. An unexpected stranger brings further tension and intrigue to the tale, and things hit a peak shortly thereafter.

In a parallel story, thirty years on from the lost year by the lake, Lila is given a key to the cottage by a mysterious stranger. Her life, filled with sadness after a recent tragedy, sees her deciding to take a break from life as she knows it to renovate the cottage. By the books’ climax, it becomes clear just how the previous tenant’s time at the cottage has implications for her future.

The Shadow Year draws you in slowly at first – it even came off a little too dark and depressing for the first few chapters. Within 20 pages, however, I was firmly gripped in the story and didn’t put it down from there until I had finished (I have the gravy smudges on a few pages to prove it.) The writing is skillful and taut, and Richell gives you just enough information at a time to keep you intrigued and thoroughly hooked.

Having read a lot of books in this genre over the years, it was a testament to Richell’s story telling skills that I didn’t start to suspect the final twist in the tale until very close to the page it was revealed.

RELEASED:  May 2013

My review copy of 'The Shadow Year' supplied by Hachette Australia.

For more information about this book, click  HERE.  

About the Author:

          British-Australian, Hannah currently lives in Sydney with her husband and two young children. Her debut novel, Secrets of the Tides was published in 2012, translated into fourteen languages and selected for the autumn Richard & Judy Book Club.
          Visit Hannah Richell’s website: CLICK HERE

NO WAY BACK by Matthew Klein ★ ★ ★★

A WILD RIDE

You know those theme-park rides that hurl you up and around at breakneck speed until you don’t know which way is up or down, and all you can do is hang on, enjoy the ride and pray that in the end you keep your lunch? 

Reading ‘No Way Back’ by Matthew Klein evokes a similar feel. Where most books hint at an ending, Klein manages to deceive the reader until the big reveal.  You won’t know who to trust or what is going on. It is a superb pleasure to turn each page, ‘guessing’, in this very smart mind-bender.

Jimmy Thane is flawed.  He is an alcoholic, a drug addict and has problems remaining loyal to his wife.  Despite these barriers to success he has managed to land himself a job as CEO to a technology start-up that seems strife with its own problems.  The former CEO has disappeared and Thane has seven weeks to turn it around in any way he can.  Pretty standard procedure until he discovers an embezzlement of millions.  

Not only that, the company appears to have a faulty product, staff with dubious, unprofessional behaviour and the police keep turning up to question him.   The neighbour is spying on him and his wife is not her usual self, some of which he can put down to the years-prior accidental drowning of his son.  On some occasions, though, she seems to be terrified of him. 

Jimmy begins to realise that nothing is what it seems and that his life is in danger. Are the company investors simply businessmen or do they have an ulterior motive?  Is he paranoid or does everyone around him know a secret and he’s the only one clueless?  When you discover the answers they will haunt you for days after.

Matthew Klein writes a brilliant corporate thriller reminiscent of the 1997 film, “The Game”   It is a ride and a half and, after this trip, Matthew Klein is now on my list of authors who are worth every penny of the entry price. 

Thank you to Allen and Unwin Australia for my review copy

VISIT ALLEN AND UNWIN for purchasing details and more information.

           
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matthew Klein graduated from Yale University in 1990. He attended Stanford Graduate School of Business, in Palo Alto, during the Internet boom years, but he dropped out of school a quarter shy of graduating, to help run a technology company he founded.

He lived in Silicon Valley for almost a decade, and started several technology firms.

Today he lives near New York City, with his wife Laura. He writes novels and runs a financial-services technology company.

VISIT http://www.matthewklein.org/index.html FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS AUTHOR