Memories of Now

Memories of Now is set in the wintertime. 

Seven old university friends have gathered together in a country hotel in Scotland.

They dine, they drink, they take walks. They reminisce.

They find themselves facing up to a number of issues from their shared and not shared pasts, they debate, they argue and they bicker as only old friends can who share a history of 35 years of lives lived.

Lives lived well and perhaps not quite so well as intended or hoped for.

As the snow falls on the Scottish countryside some of the friends learn truths that they would rather have not known.

They learn with considerable pain that things they thought they had always known as great truths were, all long, really nothing more than, at worst, great lies, or, at the very best, false assumptions or merely misunderstandings. And that what once tasted good now tasted sour.

Tajalli Keshavarz has written a very important book that is melancholic and which shines a strong beam of sunlight into the lives of seven old friends and lovers. And, after all, don't they say that sunlight is the best disinfectant?

 It's published by Matador at £10.00 and will be available from 28th July. 

Waves Aligning

Waves Aligning is a debut novel from African author Adaora O.

Having grown up in Nigeria Adaora O. brings to her readers a compelling and captivating novel that reveals what it is like to be a female growing up in a repressive environment in modern day Africa, which perhaps is not quite as modern as one might suppose.

The protagonist, Chinny, learns as she grows up that life doesn't just give you what you want or what you deserve. Especially if you are living in Eastern Nigeria and you are a female.

Her parents are hard working, yet not by any means describable as wealthy. They must make a choice. Who will they spend their meagre financial resources on educating in school? Chinny or her brother? Her brother who is entirely indifferent about the opportunities that education would provide. Yet Chinny was enthusiastic about education, so the inevitable decision to fund the education of her brother was even harder on Chinny.

But she has the friendship of Ejiofor to help her make it through her life as she meets with betrayal, poor health and tragedies and the looming spectre of a marriage she doesn't welcome and doesn't even want.

It seems that her life is a series of waves, constantly washing away her ambitions and dreams. Yet what might happen should the waves align? Will Chinny attain her dream of being able to sleep for as long as she wants?

This book is compelling, well-written and is a remarkable debut novel from an author I want to see more from.

It's published by Matador at £10.49 and should be in the suitcase of people who want an intelligent read to accompany them on their holidays. 

When Turtles Come Home

When Turtles Come Home is a wonderful memoir of the very rich and interesting life of Victoria Hoffarth.

Born in the Philippines Victoria's memoir is described as "thought-provoking" and that description only scratches the surface of this wonderful memoir.

What was it like to have to accompany a sick brother from the Philippines to New York City for him to visit some of the world's top consultants?

What was it like to work as a Kelly Girl for $2.50 an hour in hard but boring jobs during the 1960s? Actually, Victoria describes this part of her life in such a way that the reader understands that this was a happy part of her life as she learned to think like a native New Yorker. Though some of the lessons (such as how to behave when robbed in broad daylight by a gang of robbers whilst on a shopping trip) did impact her in negative ways. Though these were all part of the process of changing her from an adolescent into a somewhat brash and confidant adult.

The book touches on a variety of fascinating asides such as the story of Vicky Drake who hit on the unique idea of posing nude for her campaign posters for her 1968 attempt to become president of  Stanford University. She only just failed to win the election.

Victoria spent the next three decades gaining various degrees and a PhD, travelling to and from the Philippines to the USA and back, to Germany, the UK and also Canada.

She touches on the dreadful corruption of the Philippine government under the Marcos regimen and the dreadful problems caused when she had to inform the new hires in her government department that they no longer had jobs because Mrs Marcos decided that she needed the entire budget of their department to fund an extravagant shopping trip to New York city.

She touches on some issues that are general, globalism, liberalism, government corruption and the like, but also of more personal issues such as the devastating impact dementia can have on the family as well as the person diagnosed with dementia and how rules and regulations can make such issues even harder to bear and much more difficult to cope with.

The book is very well illustrated with a wide range of coloured photographs and images.

It's published by Matador at £12.99. 

Something to Tell You

Something to Tell You is the latest novel from David Edwards, who is a bestselling writer.

It's a Speculative Fiction novel and it tells the incredible story of what happens when the planet Earth comes under bombardment from a Higgs Boson particle storm.

This is the story of two families, that of Bert Leinster and his best friend Sam Murray.

The Central Control of the World Council declares that the only way for humanity to survive is for everyone to start living deep under the surface of the planet, where they will be protected by something called The Envelope.

The CCOW cajoles and persuades humanity to hide deep beneath the ground, but Bert is not so certain about the viability of this idea, but how can one man stand against the CCOW can challenge them? Bert certainly cannot do so, but he also cannot grasp why it is only himself who can see that the idea of the CCOW for everyone to have to love deep underground is a lie. And why lie about something like this?

However, it all changes for Bert when he meets Lily. Who, although a very definite her, is also a very definite real live plant. Who becomes his enemy as he fights to save humanity.

But can he save humanity? And if he can, or even if he can't, who or what is he trying to save it from?

And what happens next?

This is a very thought provoking book and is available in hardback from Matador at a very modest £9.99. A must for the holiday suitcase, I'd think.

Ronnie and Hilda's Romance

Ronnie and Hilda's Romance is a book about the romance of Ronnie and Hilda.

Ronnie and Hilda Williams met, completely by chance, in Lancashire in 1945, when they were both just 21 years of age.

This was when Ronnie as on home leave after taking part in some of the most harrowing and difficult campaigns of the Second World War, in Italy.

The romance of Ronnie and Hilda is told by their daughter Wendy Williams who used over 250 of the letters that were passed between the couple as the basis for this most moving love story.

Fully aware that Ronnie would be called upon to return to active service they took the decision to become engaged after knowing each other for less than a fortnight. Ten day, to be exact.

Until Ronnie's demob two years later in 1947, their letters were the main way the young couple used to learn about each other and to get to know one another.

It's filled with wonderful family anecdotes, humorous and serious and it is a warm and very human story.

It's also copiously illustrated with some lovely photographs.

You will also learn what films they watched, what they read, what they listened to and you'll also read the incredible story of Mr Bundle.

The book makes a lively read and is all the better for knowing that the people within its pages were all very real. Well, with the exception of Mr Bundle. And if you pay your £12.99 for the book, you'll learn all about the real people and the very charming story of the fictional Mr Bundle, too!

The book is published by Matador.

None So Blind

It's the year 499 and None So Blind a new novel from Xenon. Set in the Gea, a country that is united in an ethnic, linguistic and cultural sense, but is disunited by politics

There are 15 states that are independent of each other, and the history of Gea has been a long story of warfare between them. And also the nations that surround Gea.

But for the preceding 25 years Troia has brought the independent states into an Empire that is quite formidable.

But the current Emperor is not very good at being an Emperor. He is weak, inept and not very effective. People are becoming dissatisfied with his rule and people jockey for position as the stench of betrayal fills the air of the Empire.

There are plots against the Emperor and Diomedes, who is a swordmaster who is beyond the first blush of youth (to put it kindly)  is charged with the task of trying to unpick a viable plot against the Emperor. Diomedes is, however, a complex man and he is struggling with feelings of unrequited love for a woman who is, and things are getting a little complicated, here, the wife of a good friend, the life of whom is at risk.

It's an historical fantasy novel (the first in a series) which is set within a historical fantasy, which owes much to Classical Greek history.

The novel is extremely well-written and it takes you into the action from the first paragraph and will be a good read for people who like their fantasy to be heavy on factual possibilities and doing away with flying dragons and the like.

It's published by Matador at £9.99 and will make a great holiday read.

Between the Immensities

Between the Immensities is a new novel from Dorothy Davy, who was born in Bootle (which is near Liverpool) and who now lives in New Zealand where she practices as a CBT psychologist.

Dorothy uses not only her training but also her Scouse with to make this a most enjoyable and heart-warming read.

Psychologist Doctor Katherine Moore has spent the best part of four decades living and working in New Zealand.

But her life is set to change, yet again as she has finally bowed to the combined pressures from her sisters to return Liverpool (or more specifically, Bootle in Liverpool) to care for their elderly mother who is dying of terminal cancer.

Katherine moves into the council flat that is her mother's. Yet something does seem right. The "lovely gentle Liverpool mammy" that she knew has been replaced with someone far more negative and curmudgeonly.

Her various attempts to cope with her mother's attitude seems to cause her family no end of amusement.

But Katherine has tools at her disposal that her family member do not have. After all, isn't Katherine a trained and highly experienced Doctor of Psychology? Surely she can put her training an expertise of many long years of practice to the job of getting back into meaningful communication with her mother?

Gradually things between them and within the wider family start to change and suddenly family life is flipped in ways that probably couldn't have been expected.

Eventually mother and daughter get their stuff together and learn to love each other again and to become a formidable team. But who had been the thief amongst them? Surely not one of their own?

If you read this moving, truthful book, here's a fair warning, there will be tears in your eyes before the end.

What makes the book all the more interesting is that it is based on true events that shook the rational, scientific beliefs of Dr Davy to the core.

Its published by The Book Guild at £8.99.