Mama's Got a Brand New Bag

Mama's Got a Brand New Bag is the debut novel of Hope Lovejoy.

It tells the story of Mama and her brand new bag. It's a stoma bag. She required a stoma bag because a surgeon, who was tasked with the simple job of removing a polyp from her intestines made a catastrophic blunder that caused the rupture of her colon.

So now, after a different and perhaps more competent, surgeon has cleaned her insides up and repaired the damage and inserted a coma, Aki is facing life with a stoma.

It gurgles, it grumbles and causes Aki no end of concerns common to most stoma patients. What if it bursts when I am out? What of the dreadful fuggy smell it gives off? What if I roll over in the night and squash it, causing it to burst? And if this happens at 3am, the clean up crew (husband and wife) have to spring into action.

Although the novel is written in a way that is intended to amuse, it does so in a way that does not take away the dignity of the protagonist, Aki who is Japanese, or her husband, Peter, who is English.

The novel takes  jaundiced look at surgeons who do not make mistakes and who try to blame everyone else  when things go wrong.

If you have a brand new bag, you might find comfort in this highly original and thought provoking book.

It's published by Matador at £9.99

Against the Odds

Against the Odds is subtitled: Elizabeth Studdert, a life in carving. It tells the fascinating life story of Elizabeth Studdert who is  truly original sculptor.

You might not have heard of Elizabeth Studdert I certainly hadn't, but this book, by her sister, author and journalist, Caroline Studdert, sets out to correct this bewildering paradox, a sculptor who is both highly gifted yet, relatively unknowing.

The story of Elizabeth Studdert, from the slightly "regal" Waterford aristocratic society (the family were not actually viewed as fitting in, being 'outsiders') to her marriage to a Roman Catholic which was considered by some as less than suitable, the complications that an Anglo-Irish heritage could bring, to the financial problems that she faced and the problematic relationship with her mother, the book looks at the various difficulties that Elizabeth overcame in order to be what she wanted to be, a sculptor.

The examples of Elizabeth's works in a variety of materials from soapstone to alabaster, to wood, metal and resins are truly remarkable. And they are from sizes tiny to titanic, one might say.

They show a fluidity in style and form that means each piece of art is imbued with its own living soul, raw emotions radiate from every piece.

Some of the sculptures the viewer might want to become, some of the sculptures the viewer may very well feel they already are.

I'd love to own a piece of art from Elizabeth Studdert. The next best thing, however,is a copy of this hardback book from Matador, at a very reasonable £15.00.

You can learn more about Elizabeth by visiting her website, here:- http://www.elizabethstuddert.co.uk/index.html

Courtier in the Royal House of Stuart

Courtier in the Royal House of Stuart this is an exciting historical novel from Leslie Hatton

It tells the story of an orphan boy called Toby Bennet who survives life in the back streets of the Black Friars area of London.

At the age of ten Toby saved the life of the Prince of Wales who was under attack from a maniac with a knife.

The Prince decides that he will reward Toby by bringing him into the royal household. The Prince arranges his education and promises the life of a courtier within the royal household. The House of Stuart.

But Oliver Cromwell has come to prominence and has wrought terrible destruction and caused terrible chaos the length and breadth of the kingdom.

When the king is taken prisoner and put on trial for treason, the prince must flee for his life, abandoning his country.

He spends the next twelve years exiled with his mother or his sister whom is Princess Mary of Orange either in Paris or Holland.

And all the while, loyal Toby is with him. There is romance for Toby, with a young lady's-in-waiting for Princess Mary

But there are several attempts to bring about the premature death of Toby and Toby learns that he is being pursued by a ruthless and secret adversary, someone who holds a dreadful secret and who wishes to see Toby dead.

But who is this person? And what is the secret that they hold?

It's a riproaring historical thriller from The Book Guild at £9.99.

The Madness Locker

The Madness Locker is a debut novel from the pen of E. J. Russell.

It's Christmas Day, 1986 and a corpse has been discovered in a wheelie bin in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia.

The remains are those of a widow who was 70 years of age.

The police swiftly go into action and launch a detailed and very intensive investigation, but despite their very best efforts, they fail to identify any potential suspects or a potential motive for the killing.

They find no clues, no forensic evidence and so reluctantly the police decide to file it as a cold case.

However, perhaps the police wee looking in the wrong places for clues to the murder?

E. J. Russell looks back to a time when, fifty years previously, the whole world had been in flames as innocent people were sent to places like Auschwitz merely because the Nazi Third Reich either did not like their political vies, their mental incapacity, their race or just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A young girl is arrested along with her family, they are forced to travel to Auschwitz on a three-day journey in a railway wagon. On arrival she is separated from her parents who she never sees again.

After years of suffering forced hard labour, near starvation and punishments "just because" the Russian army sweeps into Poland and she, along with the other pitiful survivors of Auschwitz are liberated.

After she recovers she believes that she knows who she blames for the loss of her parents and the years of abuse she suffered at the hands of her tormentors.

She sets out on a journey to track them down and to bring them to some form of justice.

Is there a link between her search for retributive justice and the corpse that was found in the wheelie bin?

If so, how did her nemesis track her down? And how and why did she have to die? How was she killed?

The beginning of this fictionalised account is a real event that took place in 2006 when a corpse was discovered in similar circumstances to those described in this novel.

It's a compelling and exciting thriller and worth every penny of the £9.99 price set by the publisher, Matador.

It will make a very good beach companion for the holidaymaking reader.

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.