The Hope Factory by Lavanya Sankaran

 review by Maryom

The Hope Factory is the story of two people from different ends of the social spectrum who share a common goal - to improve their life.
Anand is the owner of a factory which makes car body parts. He's affluent, lives in a spacious modern house with his wife and two children, thinks of himself as a 'modern' Indian, not held back by superstitions or out of date ideas about caste. He's hoping to clinch an important deal with a Japanese firm but expansion of his factory is vital to this and to buy the necessary land he comes up against the culture of bribery and back-handers that he refuses to be part of.
Kamala on the other hand works in Anand's house as a cleaner. She's a widow with a teenage son to support. They live in one small room and share their water supply and bathroom facilities with other lodgers. Her finances are stretched in all directions. She'd like her bright clever son to go to a better school which would open up wider opportunities for him - but such a thing requires money and meanwhile the demand for building land is pushing up her rent. All Kamala's hopes rest on the whim of her employer and his wife.

The Hope Factory is vivid portrayal of life in today's India, highlighting the inequalities of life there while showing the underlying similarities - a sort of modern, literary, Indian 'Upstairs, Downstairs'. It's set in Bangalore, a vibrant, noisy city, bursting at the seams, ever growing and expanding, often at the expense of its inhabitants. The plot concentrates on the lives of  business-man Anand and his maid, Kamala and their parallel attempts to better their lives. The obstacles they face are different but come down in the end to the need to have money before you can make more.
There are many themes explored throughout the novel - the clash between old and new methods, Eastern and Western ways; the enormous gap between poor and wealthy - but it is above all a very readable, enjoyable story. The characters are well drawn, believable individuals - the sort you feel you could transport out of the novel to elsewhere and know how they'd behave and react. Both Anand and Kamala gained my sympathies for their persistence, particularly Kamala whose life has been harsh almost beyond belief.

Although the author has published short stories before, The Hope Factory is her debut novel - and another amazing book from Tinder Press.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher -  Tinder Press
Genre - Adult fiction, literary

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The Scarlet Thief by Paul Fraser Collard

review by Maryom

1854: The banks of the Alma River, Crimean Peninsular. The Redcoats stagger to a bloody halt. The men of the King's Royal Fusiliers are in terrible trouble, ducking and twisting as the storm of shot, shell and bullet tear through their ranks.
Officer Jack Lark has to act immediately and decisively. His life and the success of the campaign depend on it. But does he have the mettle, the officer qualities that are the life blood of the British Army? From a poor background Lark has risen through the ranks by stealth and guile and now he faces the ultimate test...
THE SCARLET THIEF introduces us to a formidable and compelling hero - brutally courageous, roguish, ambitious - in a historical novel as robust as it is thrillingly authentic by an author who brings history and battle vividly alive. 

The Scarlet Thief is an action-packed historical adventure that introduces a charismatic new hero - Jack Lark.  There are obvious similarities to the Sharp and Flashman novels but Jack is very much his own man. Having risen through the ranks in a sometimes rather dubious manner, he is now a captain facing battle for the time time in the Crimean War - peace-time training in Aldershot barracks is one thing but putting that training into practice under canon fire quite another. Can he face down his own fear and inspire his men?
I grew up in the sort of area that had streets named after the Crimean battles - Alma, Inkermann, etc - but it's a conflict I know little about beyond The Charge of the Light Brigade and the dreadful conditions that Florence Nightingale encountered in the military hospitals there. Collard brings the Battle of the Alma vividly to life - both from overall troop displacement and the viewpoint of the individuals caught up in those manoeuvres. To me, this is what good historical fiction should do - take the dry dusty facts from history books and tell the story of the men and women who lived through them - and Collard does this admirably.

Maryom's review -  4 stars

Publisher - Headline 
Genre - Historical fiction, action adventure, Crimean War


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Dangerous Cakes by Elspeth Smith

Review by The Mole

Poetry is something I normally steer clear of. The reason? Well, start by reading the preface. It reviews the collection in very highbrow terms making it a very 'intellectual' collection. For me poetry must be enjoyable - not clever and 'intellectual'. Most of the prefaces to such collections actually turn me cold.

However I read the poems before I read the preface - is that wrong?

The poems are most enjoyable to read but this is not a 'fun' collection - no "When daddy fell into the pond" in this book. Most of the poems are short, single verse that feel like they are giving you a small and very private window onto the poet's life.

I won't pretend to understand all the poems as a few lacked context for me. They are mostly reflections on a life that has been filled with both joy and sorrow and contain memories of childhood, early adulthood and later life as well. Somehow I felt we learned far more than the number of words actually told us and that's the best kind of poetry for me.

Publisher - Eyewear Publishing
Genre - Poetry

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Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley

review by Maryom

Amaranth is running away from her husband, a self-styled prophet and leader of their polygamous community of one man and fifty wives. For years they've lived their lives, isolated from the world, in comparative harmony but now Amaranth is afraid of what the future holds for her daughters, Amity and Sorrow. So, when an opportunity presents itself, she flees with them, driving non stop for 4 days only coming to a halt when she crashes the car near a lonely gas station. Stranded there, they have to rely on the grudging help of the local farmer for food and shelter. Slowly they start to put a new life together but can they just ignore the past and walk away?

Amity and Sorrow is an impressive, thought-provoking debut exploring the appeal of 'alternative lifestyle' cults. The story-telling moves between the present - Amaranth running away - and the past - revealing the origins of the cult and its slide into something twisted - and gradually the reader discovers what exactly Amaranth was so desperate to get away from.

Their community grew out of worthy-sounding ideals; offering a shelter to lonely, down on their luck women - some wanting to quit a life of drugs or alcohol, some running away from violence and abuse, some just drawn by the thought of a simpler, back to nature way of life.  For many years it seemed like an idyllic place, one of endless bounty; plentiful harvests, full food stores and love for all. But what starts by giving these women a loving, caring home builds up into a sinister polygamous cult.
It contrasts sharply with the 'real' world where Amaranth ends up. This may have mechanical and technological advances but is a harsh place of dry, barren earth where months of drought are followed by equally ruinous deluge and farming is a hard, hand to mouth existence. It's almost as if Amaranth has been living in a dream-world and has now woken up to reality.
To her daughters, the outside world is a strange, often frightening place to which they react in strikingly different ways. Amity is curious about the new things she discovers and wants to fit in. Sorrow was happier before and longs to return to their sheltered life in the commune.
 
The book is filled with strong believable characters from Amaranth and her daughters, to the sister-wives they left behind and the farmer and his elderly father who offer a new refuge. 
Importantly for me, I felt this wasn't a book that gave up all its secrets at the first reading but one that it's possible to go back to time and again and uncover more.
I wonder how and with what Peggy Riley will follow this.... I'm certainly looking forward to finding out.


Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher -  Tinder Press
Genre - Adult fiction

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Firewallers by Simon Packham

Review by The Mole

Jess's dad is suspended from work and so her mum takes her and her sister off to a remote Scottish island to join a commune. Jess is freaked out by the weirdness of the other kids in the commune until she finally manages to join in their activities. But why has her mum run away instead of staying and supporting her dad? Why won't her mum and sister tell her what her dad has been accused of? And won't someone help her dad clear his name?

When I started reading this I was surprised by Jess, who describes herself as a stroppy teenager. Aren't most teenagers stroppy and how many would roll over and just agree to go without a blazing row unless parents are totally honest with them - and neither of these things happen. Once I got past that I found the story to be extremely enjoyable and quite fast paced. There is a love angle in there but it's not central at all. The behaviour of the teenagers (after the initial scene setting) is very well written from embarrassed son to supportive friends to clumsy first dates.

With Jess in year 10, I think this is probably suited to the 12-15 reader and hopefully it emphasises the 'innocent until proven guilty' message that so many people ignore. Oh, and don't send dodgy photos of yourself unless you want to be publicly embarrassed.

Publisher - Piccadilly
Genre - Teen mystery

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Close My Eyes by Sophie McKenzie

 review by Maryom


It's been eight years since Gen Loxley lost her daughter, Beth: eight years of grief in which nothing's really moved forward, for all that her husband, Art, wills it to. Gen, once a writer of novels, has settled in to a life of half-hearted teaching, while Art makes his name and their fortune - and pressures her into trying IVF once again. For Gen, it seems a cruel act of replacement; life without Beth is unthinkable, unbearable - but still it goes on. And then a woman arrives on Gen's doorstep, saying the very thing she longs to hear: that her daughter was not stillborn, but was spirited away as a healthy child, and is out there, waiting to be found...So why is Art reluctant to get involved? To save his wife from further hurt? Or something much more sinister? What is the truth about Beth Loxley?

Sophie McKenzie is an award winning author of teen thrillers but here she turns for the first time to the adult market. This is the first of her novels that I've read and after the praise I've heard of her teen fiction, I was slightly disappointed.
Obviously Gen wants so very desperately to believe this outrageous tale but she barely for a moment doubts what she is told by a complete stranger and as the story is told in the first person through her eyes and thoughts, that's how the reader feels too; it's an accepted fact from the outset that Gen's baby was stolen and I think this takes some edge off the story. Gen doesn't seem crazy or deluded and her husband's claim that it's all a plot hatched by a business rival to discredit him is laughable, perhaps intentionally.
Unfortunately that's where my empathy for Gen stopped. I couldn't warm to her as a person; she seemed far too naive for her age, ready to trust people on the slightest acquaintance and any anguish or doubt she expressed didn't feel real.
I'd  guessed early on who was involved and part of what had happened to baby Beth, so although the story DID keep me turning pages it was only to find out if my guesses were right - I was almost tempted to just turn to the last page and read that..

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Genre - thriller,

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John Boyne - author event

Yesterday (8th May 2013) saw John Boyne talking about his latest book, This House is Haunted, at a Waterstones event in Nottingham.

John is most widely known for his book The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas which was made into a film in 2008 and both film and book have received a great deal of acclaim. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is one of the three books he has written for children and This House is Haunted is his eighth adult book.

John started with a reading from the early part of his latest book in which he sets the tone of the story. As a ghost story this is, once again, a genre shift for him as well as the first time he has written a book from the perspective of a woman. The reading certainly captured the imagination of the audience! You can check out the synopsis here on the Waterstones' website.

This was followed by a question and answer session which brought questions as diverse as his writings. A couple of questions really caught my attention. When asked which was his favourite of his own books I think people expected The Boy... but were surprised when he said The Absolutist. A later question about any books he had had rejected revealed that some books had proved more popular than he expected while other had not caught the public's imagination where he had expected them to - I suppose this happens with most authors. The other question that made me smile was when asked what he would have done if his second book hadn't been published (he had abandoned the first book as a learning exercise and it sits in a drawer today) he looked surprised at the question, genuinely, and replied that he would have written another because that's all there is for him to do. Many more questions were asked by the enthusiastic audience and he explained that the idea for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas came to him and he just sat and wrote and wrote and wrote, stopping only for short breaks and had the first draft completed in two and a half days!

The event wrapped up with the traditional author signing which also gives the ability for short 'one on one's that mean people don't have a roomful of people to feel embarrassed in front of.

Once again an excellent event organised by the Nottingham branch of Waterstones and our thanks go to them and to John Boyne for an excellent evenings entertainment. Remember to watch out for author events in your area and meet your favourite authors.