THE SUMMER GUEST by EMMA HANNIGAN

THE SUMMER GUEST

BY EMMA HANNIGAN

THE BLURB:-

Lexie and her husband Sam have spent years lovingly restoring No. 3 Cashel Square to its former glory. So imagine Lexie's delight when a stranger knocks at the door, asking to see the house she was born in over sixty years ago.

Kathleen is visiting from America, longing to see her childhood home... and longing for distraction from the grief of losing her husband.

And as Lexie and Sam battle over whether or not to have a baby and Kathleen struggles with her loss, the two women realise their unexpected friendship will touch them in ways neither could have imagined.

In Caracove, there's more than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

THE REALITY:-

A truly lovely story at a time when I needed a truly lovely story and a bit of an uplift! After reading the blurb, I did worry that I'd stepped into the genre of chick lit, but this wasn't sarcastic chick lit that tries to be clever and ironic but ends up being painful (urgh!) This was more than that- a great story, told very well.

As most of the main characters are around my age group, it was easy to associate with the issues that they're dealing with. I think it's always important to create good, descriptive scenes, so that readers can envisage where exactly things are taking place, and the writer does this well with her detailed depictions of Lexie's house and the area of Dublin she lives in, and also the surrounding part of Ireland. It helps that I've been to both Dublin and Howth- it's nice to read novels set in places you've been to.

The lives of the characters are all clearly depicted, along with their shortcomings, issues and angsts. Kathleen's entry into the story offers a totally new perspective and though at first Amelie's teenage diary writings got on my nerves, I do think they were important for building her character, and also as an added contrast in terms of writing style.

The supernatural appearance of rainbows, albeit in unexpected ways, add a sense of other worldliness and make us question whether there is some kind of afterlife, and whether the dead come back to visit the living one way or another. I personally think they do!

Although there is sadness in the story, things do kind of work themselves out to a natural conclusion and the story finishes all wrapped up. Difficult to put down, and a truly magical read.

THE STORY OF YOU by JULIE MYERSON

THE STORY OF YOU

BY JULIE MYERSON

THE BLURB:-

A freezing room in a student house, a sagging mattress on the floor, and two people, one nineteen, the other twenty, kissing passionately.   All night.   It is to this terrible scene that, twenty years later, Rosy returns obsessively.  She has just lost a child in a terrible, careless accident and her partner has taken her to Paris to forget about things, to start again.

It has snowed in the night and, waking at dawn, Rosy goes for a walk.   At the hotel desk there's a note for her: 'I'm waiting for you X.'  And he is, sitting in the corner of a cafe she enters almost at random.  They talk.  He touches her.  She turns away and when she looks again he has gone.

Was he there?  Had she dreamed him?   And why, when he emails her out of the blue two days later, does he write as though they haven't met for twenty years?

THE REALITY:-

Years ago, I read Sleepwalking by Julie Myerson. My partner at the time liked the column she wrote for one of the broadsheets (which I don't know, the News Of The World was always more my cup of tea!) He subsequently bought her first novel. Sleepwalking tells the tale of a pregnant woman who embarks on a very strange affair after finding out that her disturbed father has committed suicide. It was compelling reading, so I thought I'd give this book a go.

Hmm. Part of me wishes I hadn't. “Written in stark, simple prose,” one review on the cover said, which was really an analogy for the writer having used no speech marks. Whilst I understand the need to be artistic, I do think the words would have had more of an impact had they been properly punctuated. This style really grated, and made it a mission for me to finish the novel.

But finish it I did. The subject matter is truly awful- Rosy/Nicole struggles to come to terms with the loss of her baby following an accident and (as in Sleepwalking) embarks on an affair, in this case with a guy she knew as a student. In this novel, she recalls kissing him all night long, with a pearl from a broken necklace in her mouth. I remember something similar from Sleepwalking, so maybe the author experienced this for real.

It didn't take me long to work out that Rosy/ Nicole's lover was actually dead, so if this was meant to be a punchline of great discovery near the end then it was a bit lost on me! The sections detailing baby Mary's accident were really harrowing and brought tears to me eyes. Ditto parts where Mary revisits her mother and also where her mother's feelings for her are described in details of sounds and smells. Very moving and extremely heartbreaking.

I did start to wonder if this was maybe a book that I didn't need to read, and it was DEFINITELY the worst I've ever read in terms of writing style.  An upsetting and unsettling novel.

SOME SUNNY DAY by HELEN CAREY

SOME SUNNY DAY

BY HELEN CAREY

THE BLURB:-

It is 1940 and as the bombs begin to fall on London the women of Lavender Road find themselves struggling to carry on with their lives in the midst of the Blitz. Shy Katy Parsons enrols as a nurse, but finds the rigours of hospital life, and the pressures of a secret love, almost impossible to bear.

Away on tour with ENSA, Jen Carter finds herself unexpectedly homesick- while her mother prefers to face the terror of the burning streets, rather than suffer her husbands brutality at home. And as Pam Nelson longs for a baby to breathe life into her flagging marriage, eighteen-year-old Louise Rutherford faces pregnancy with an illegitimate child.

Some Sunny Day depicts the courage, the emotion and the defiant laughter of war-torn London as the residents of Lavender Road face up to the hardships and dangers of the Blitz.

THE REALITY:-

I know I told myself that I wouldn't be reading another war novel just yet, as the previous ones I'd recently read were too harrowing (as they should be) and I was in need of a little light relief. But Some Sunny Day was in the last load of books I bought from the charity shop and, as a native Londoner, I thought it would be good to read a home-based war story. I wasn't wrong- this was a real tale of courage and community.

So many people who were alive during the war say that those days were “the best of our lives.” I always had to question why and really, any sane person would- what on earth is so great about rationing, making-do and mending by force rather than by choice, the worry regarding loved ones who'd been called up to fight and having to take constant shelter from the risk of having bombs dropped onto your head?  But the answer that comes back always states that the sense of “we're all in this together,” the pulling together of communities, the making of friends you otherwise would not make and the need to live each day to the full as it could be your last, made for real camaraderie and a sense of belonging. The scenes depicting London during the Blitz and the comparisons with country life for evacuees really came to life, with nicely researched historical realities thrown in for a good measure.

This was a lovely, feel good saga with great, likeable yet flawed characters, who were beautifully depicted and very human. Love and romance and defiance over adversity shone through and it was good to see so many happy endings muddled in with the tragedies. It was also super the the bad eggs got their come-uppance.  A very pleasant read.

ZEBRA PRINT SHOES....

ZEBRA PRINT SHOES

Here's a picture of these little zebra beauties, bought from Barratts some years ago.  The white bits have started to turn yellow with age, and the back has stretched a bit, so I will only be able to wear them again if I stick a heel grip in the back.

This seemed like a very good excuse to buy another pair, and here they are, only £2.99 from Ebay!

But when I tried them on, although they pinched around the peeptoe, they seemed really wide.  A close look at the bottom reveals that they are a triple E fitting.  Whilst my feet certainly are not slim, the are not pates o' meat either, and these shoes are very roomy and are also going to be slipping around the heel after a few wears.

Why, oh why, can't sellers state these things clearly, when advertising their wares????