 Release date - 28th February 2018 (Paperback) Book length - 276 pages Publisher - Orenda Books Book Depository - www.bookdepository.com Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Anne from randomthingsthroughmyletterbox.blogspot.ie for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this book for review. ABOUT THE BOOK After convicting a superior for corruption and shooting off a gangster’s crown jewels, the career of Hamburg’s most hard-bitten state prosecutor, Chastity Riley, has taken a nose dive: she has been transferred to the tedium of witness protection to prevent her making any more trouble. However, when she is assigned to the case of an anonymous man lying under police guard in hospital – almost every bone in his body broken, a finger cut off, and refusing to speak in anything other than riddles – Chastity’s instinct for the big, exciting case kicks in. Using all her powers of persuasion, she soon gains her charge’s confidence, and finds herself on the trail to Leipzig, a new ally, and a whole heap of lethal synthetic drugs. When she discovers that a friend and former colleague is trying to bring down Hamburg’s Albanian mafia kingpin single-handedly, it looks like Chas Riley’s dull life on witness protection really has been short-lived… Fresh, fiendishly fast-paced and full of devious twists and all the hard-boiled poetry and acerbic wit of the best noir, Blue Night marks the stunning start of a brilliant new crime series, from one of Germany’s bestselling authors. MY REVIEW BLUE NIGHT by Simone Buchholz is my first venture into German Noir and I have to say it most certainly will not be my last. Gripping, dark, raw, and intense, this story has got it all and presents it in a fresh and exciting new way which will get your heart racing. Chastity Riley is a tough state prosecutor who finds herself relegated to protecting witnesses after she took down a superior who was corrupt. Spending her time babysitting is not what she wants from her career but when she must guard an anonymous man who has been severely beaten, Chastity knows that there is so much more here than meets the eye. As she digs deeper she is pulled into the drugs world that is more dangerous than she can imagine. And on top of that, her motley crew of friends seems to be falling apart at the seams with one trying to take down an Albanian kingpin all by themselves. It looks like Chastity just cannot stay out of trouble ... The narration is different to what I have read before but this added to the story for me and I really enjoyed this fresh approach. Chastity and her colleagues and friends are all strong, tough, and flawed which makes them relatable, likeable most of the time, and makes the overall plot even more realistic. BLUE NIGHT by Simone Buchholz is well-paced and I read it cover to cover in a couple of hours. I wasn't sure if I would enjoy this translation but I loved it and will be first in line to buy the next book from Simone Buchholz. AUTHOR BIO: Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau in 1972. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious Henri-Nannen-School in Hamburg. In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as the second Place of the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her husband and son. For more information: Website - simonebuchholz.com Twitter - twitter.com/ohneKlippo DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE OTHER STOPS ALONG THE WAY!! 
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#Blogtour #Review: The Prole Soldier by Oliver Tidy @olivertidy @CarolineBookBit #TheProleSoldier27/2/2018  Release date - 20th February 2018 Book length - 311 pages Publisher - Self-Published Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Caroline from www.bitsaboutbooks.net for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this book for review. ABOUT THE BOOK Theo lives and works in the Blue Zone of Rainbow City. He is almost sixteen at which age he will begin four years conscription – military or mines. He wants neither. He hates his life and despises the cruelty, injustice and inequality that prevails. When the opportunity arises for Theo to be involved in the fight for change he grabs it, knowing that failure will cost him everything. MY REVIEW THE PROLE SOLDIER by Oliver Tidy is a detailed, compelling, and slightly terrifying story about a world where inequality and cruelty prevail and what can happen when those who are ignored and treated like dirt begin to recognise the injustice and decide to fight back. Theo is just an ordinary teenager who works in the factories by day and scavenges at night in a world where those in the worst sections of society seem to have just accepted their lot - just another invisible speck on the ground to be used up and spat out by those in power, But as it gets closer to his conscription date, Theo starts to unearth the truth about those who control the zones and as he gets deeper into their secrets and lies, Theo will place himself in danger that he never knew was possible in order to expose the truth. Gripping and action-packed, THE PROLE SOLDIER by Oliver Tidy is a dystopian story that is all too believable in the world that we live in today - scared people placing supreme power into the hands of those who will wield it for their own gain ... The characters and the world of Rainbow City are excellently described and you can almost imagine yourself there (although there are times when that is harsh and uncomfortable), and I was completely absorbed in this book. An excellent read by Oliver Tidy and I look forward to more. AUTHOR BIO: Crime writing author Oliver Tidy has had a life-long love affair with books. He dreams of one day writing something that he could find in a beautifully-jacketed hard-cover or paperback copy on a shelf in a book shop. He found the time and opportunity to finally indulge his writing ambition after moving abroad to teach English as a foreign language to young learners eight years ago. Impatient for success and an income that would enable him to stay at home all day in his pyjamas he discovered self-publishing. He gave it go. By and large readers have been kind to him. Kind enough that now, after moving back to the UK to his beloved Romney Marsh, Oliver is a full-time writer. Mostly in his pyjamas. Oliver Tidy has fourteen books in three series, a couple of stand-alone novels and a couple of short story collections. Among his books are The Romney and Marsh Files (British police procedurals set in Dover) and the Booker & Cash novels, a series of private detective tales set in the south of England and published by Bloodhound Books. For more information: Website - olivertidy.com Twitter - twitter.com/olivertidy Facebook - www.facebook.com/Oliver-Tidy-467297426793288/ DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE OTHER STOPS ALONG THE WAY!!   Release date - 22nd February 2018 Book length - 288 pages Publisher - Mills & Boon Historical Book Depository - www.bookdepository.com Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Rachel from www.rachelsrandomresources.com for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. ABOUT THE BOOK Alan Rothwell, Marquess of Ravenscar, is furious when unconventional heiress Lily Wallace refuses him purchase of her property. He can’t even win her over with his infamous charm. But when fever seizes him and they’re trapped together, horrified, Alan realizes Lily’s attentions will compromise them both! His solution: take Lily as his betrothed before desire consumes them completely… MY REVIEW LORD RAVENSCAR'S INCONVENIENT BETROTHAL by Lara Temple is exactly what you want from a historical romance and a lovely way to entertain yourself for an evening. Alan Rothwell is a man with a past - a past that he has blocked out as much as possible - but he is used to getting what he wants when he turns on his infamous charm. But when the spirited and feisty Lily Wallace does not fall at his feet and allow him to buy her property, it infuriates and confuses him. But he is also confused by this unique woman too. And when he falls ill and she nurses him through it, Rothwell knows that there is one way to solve all of their problems ... LORD RAVENSCAR'S INCONVENIENT BETROTHAL by Lara Temple is a romance that centres around friendship, passion and allowing yourself to open up so someone no matter how difficult it may be. While this is the second book in the series it can easily be read as a standalone which is what I did. With likeable characters, that are sometimes exasperating, this is a great read for historical romance fans and I highly recommend it. AUTHOR BIO: When I was fifteen I found a very grubby copy of Georgette Heyer’s Faro’s Daughter in an equally grubby book store. Several blissful hours later I emerged, blinking, into the light of day completely in love with Max Ravenscar and with Regency Romance. But the love remained one-sided as I progressed through various fascinating but completely unrelated careers in finance and high tech until my mother gave me a firm shove by entering one my many drawer-directed novels into Harlequin’s annual writing contest. To my shocked surprise I not only made it to the top ten but Harlequin commissioned me to write five Regency romances. I write strong, sexy, and suspenseful regency romances about complex individuals who give no quarter but deliver plenty of passion. Like every (or most) writers, I would love to hear from you about books (not only mine) and history and whatever you find that makes you love this period and genre. I live with my husband and two children who are very good about my taking over the kitchen table for my writing (so I can look out over the garden and dream). I love to travel (especially to places steeped in history) and hike and read as many books as possible (which just about sums up my dream vacation). I recently went back to look for that grubby crowded little bookstore but couldn’t quite remember around what corner it was…hopefully it is still there and another girl is in the corner by the window, reading and dreaming… For more information: Website - www.laratemple.com Twitter - twitter.com/laratemple1 Facebook - www.facebook.com/LaraTempleAuthor/ Instagram - www.instagram.com/laratempleauthor1/ DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE OTHER STOPS ALONG THE WAY!!   Release date - 22nd March 2018 Book length - 222 pages Publisher - RedDoor Publishing Book Depository - www.bookdepository.com Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Kelly from lovebooksgroup.blog for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this book for review. ABOUT THE BOOK Sally Lachlan has a secret that has haunted her for a decade, although perhaps it is time to let it go. A chance meeting with the charismatic geneticist, Anthony Blake, reawakens her desire for love and, at the same time, her daughter Charlie shows signs of wishing to know more about her father. Both the past and the future are places Sally prefers not to think about, but if she wants to find happiness, she will first have to come to terms with her long-ago marriage. Only then will she be able to be honest with Charlie. And herself. A story of love and loss, of enduring friendship and unreliable memory, A Perfect Marriage is an enthralling new book from the bestselling author of Stillwater Creek. The novel is also a tale of redemption, of new hopes and fresh beginnings. MY REVIEW Another book where I thought I had an idea of how the plot would play out but was soon taken by surprise when the story was very different from my expectations - in a good way! Sally Lachlan loves her daughter and enjoys her career and when she meets Anthony Blake at a conference, she is shocked by the flutter of attraction that she feels for this handsome and intelligent man. It has been a long time since Sally has ever considered a relationship but if she wants to finally open up her heart she must first confront her past and the marriage that went before. But to do that properly will shocking secrets come to the surface and will it change her and her daughter's lives forever? With plenty of turns and bends, A PERFECT MARRIAGE by Alison Booth is a compelling story about love, family, and secrets that will grip you early on and keep you interested to the end. Dealing with sensitive topics, this story brings out every emotion and you will definitely feel connected to the drama as it unfolds. With elements of love, mystery, and drama, A PERFECT MARRIAGE by Alison Booth is a book that ticked a lot of the boxes for me and I highly recommend it. AUTHOR BIO: Alison Booth's fourth novel, A Perfect Marriage, will be published in March 2018 by RedDoor Publishing. Alison's debut novel, the critically acclaimed Stillwater Creek - a story of love and loss, betrayal and hope - was published by Penguin Random House (PRH) in 2010, and was Highly Commended in the 2011 ACT Book of the Year Award. For more information: Website - www.alisonbooth.net Twitter - twitter.com/booth_alison Facebook - www.facebook.com/AlisonBoothAuthor/ DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE OTHER STOPS ALONG THE WAY!!!   Release day - 15th February 2018 Book length - 256 pages Publisher - The Dome Press Book Depository - www.bookdepository.com Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Emily from www.thedomepress.com for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this book for review. I also want to thank Claire Dyer for her fascinating guest post which you can read below. ABOUT THE BOOK They say three's a crowd but when Boyd moves back into the family home with his now amicably estranged wife, Vita, accompanied by his impossibly beautiful twenty-seven-year-old girlfriend, Honey, it seems the perfect solution: Boyd can get his finances back on track while he deals with his difficult, ailing mother; Honey can keep herself safe from her secret, troubled past; and Vita can carry on painting portraits of the pets she dislikes and telling herself she no longer minds her marriage is over. But the house in Albert Terrace is small and full of memories, and living together is unsettling. For Vita, Boyd and Honey love proves to be a surprising, dangerous thing and, one year on, their lives are changed forever. MY REVIEW I don't know what I expected when I picked up THE LAST DAY by Claire Dyer but it was not this - this beautifully layered, heartbreaking, and emotional story of three imperfect people who have all suffered in their lives and are still suffering in many ways. When Boyd finds himself with some financial issues the only logical solution is to move back in with his estranged wife and take his live-in girlfriend, Honey, with him. Vita is strong and capable and wants to show Boyd how much she has moved on and is unaffected by Boyd or Honey but as they settle into their own strange routine, Vita will have to confront many emotions as they bubble up to the surface. Honey feels that it should be awkward, and it is at times, but she likes Vita, and she adores Boyd - after all, he is so much more than she ever expected after the life that she has lived, the past that she is afraid will come back to haunt her or worse. And then there is Boyd who loves Honey, still loves Vita in his own way, and struggles with the relationship with his mother. He just wants to make everything right for everyone but doesn't know how to do it. And then on the last day, something inconceivable will happen that will change them all forever ... I instantly loved Vita and her no-nonsense attitude and as her story unfolded it broke my heart to see the woman behind the strength. I didn't want to like Honey but I did. She is such a gentle character who has experienced some horrific abuse in her past and I felt her desperation to hold on to the happiness that she has carved out for herself, but yet you always got the feeling that the darkness would come back for her. Boyd is a guy who has so much grief and regrets in his life but isn't quite sure what to do with it and he is determined to do right by those he loves and cares about but as they all live together, their relationships will alter in ways that even they do not realise. THE LAST DAY by Claire Dyer is a superb read and I devoured it in one night (lucky for me I'm a bit of an insomniac!!). The characters, the writing, the emotion, it is all just so rich and beautiful and it will make you feel every smile, shed every tear, and ache over every heartbreak, and feel hope when it flourishes too. Absolutely amazing!! GUESTPOST The search for happy ever after It is always tempting to write, ‘and they lived happily ever after’ but it is rarely that people actually do. There is always a next day. In Sonnet 116 Shakespeare professes that ‘Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove:’ ‘Oh no!’ he says, ‘It is an ever-fixèd mark’. However, just looking at our bookshelves we can see that writers through the ages have been preoccupied not necessarily by this, but by love’s ever-changing nature: Anna Karenina, Rebecca, The Bridges of Madison County, The End of the Affair, The Great Gatsby (the list goes on) all deal with the million shades of love that people can feel for people other than those with whom they had promised to share their ‘happy ever after’. And, with these stories come a host of different definitions of right and wrong and many types of endings. That we are left to determine how we feel about the storylines and endings authors give us is one of the many things that novels can bestow on us as readers In The Last Day I really wanted my characters to be happy. Ideally happiness comes when we love the people we should, we do the jobs we enjoy, our children are healthy and reside under the same roof as we do, and we all live in a world where there is an overriding sense of equality, justice, kindness and fair play. But, if my characters did inhabit such a world and live such lives, there would be no tension or conflict and therefore, I suggest, there would be no middle-of-the-night anguish, no mercy dashes, no forbidden kisses, no secret dreams, no sacrifices, no overarching joys and these are the things that make fiction compelling. So, instead I made my characters unhappy: I let them fall in love in ways they shouldn’t; I gave them anguish, secrets and heartbreak and made them make decisions (some right, some wrong) that have far-reaching consequences. However, I also wanted them to find their own happy-ever-afters in amongst all the conflict and tension. Some do and some don’t and whilst I know how I feel about that, I have to leave it to the reader to decide how they feel for themselves and this, perhaps, is one of the scariest bits of having a book published and put on other people’s bookshelves. AUTHOR BIO: Novelist and poet who likes love stories and cheese. Author of 'The Last Day', 'The Moment', 'The Perfect Affair', 'Eleven Rooms' & 'Interference Effects'. For more information: Website - clairedyer.com Twitter - twitter.com/ClaireDyer1 Facebook - www.facebook.com/Claire-Dyer-Author-131347343704266/ Instagram - www.instagram.com/clairedyerwriter/ DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE OTHER STEPS ALONG THE WAY!!   Available Now
Book length - 399 pages Publisher - Self-Published Book Depository - www.bookdepository.com Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Ruth Harrow for providing me with a copy of this book for review. ABOUT THE BOOK One night changes her life forever… But the past won’t let her go… Harriet is trapped in an unhappy marriage to her abusive husband, Dan. She dreams of a life where she does not have to live in constant fear. One night, she finally summons the courage and makes the life-changing decision to leave him behind for good. She leaves with only a suitcase and a closely-guarded box she is terrified of anyone discovering… Eighteen-months on, Harriet has her freedom. Or does she? She is living her lifelong dream of running a successful art gallery. She should be happy, but things are not what they appear. Her perfect world is plagued by crippling anxiety and disturbing nightmares. Dark secrets from her past threaten to tear her new world apart. Why is she so terrified of her own family finding her? Can she ever truly escape the past? Soon, Harriet will learn that running from her worst fears is a dangerous mistake and one that will have deadly consequences. MY REVIEW IN HER FOOTSTEPS by Ruth Harrow is a gripping and tense thriller that will thoroughly shock you. Harriet must get out soon or it won't be long before her husband Dan kills her in one of his rages. But disappearing is not as simple as it sounds and then there is always the chance that you will be discovered. But after another vicious attack, Harriet realises that she cannot simply bide her time and flees into the night. Eighteen months later and Harriet seems to have gotten her life in order - running her art gallery and being by herself with ease, but Harriet still suffers from crippling nightmares and severe panic attacks. As she tentatively makes new friends, Harriet wonders if she will ever truly be free and whether she could ever trust anyone with her heart or her secrets. But she will soon learn that the past always catches up with you and sometimes with devastating effects ... IN HER FOOTSTEPS by Ruth Harrow is a deeply layered story with plenty of suspense and some surprising twists and turns that will completely shock you. It is well-paced with plenty of grit to sink your teeth into and I read it in one evening. A compelling and at times, uncomfortable story, IN HER FOOTSTEPS by Ruth Harrow is a fantastic read and would appeal to psychological thriller fans everywhere. AUTHOR BIO: Ruth Harrow was born and raised in London and graduated from the University of Kent before embarking on an unfulfilling career as an accountant. In 2016, she put pen to paper and drafted the first version of her debut psychological thriller, In Her Footsteps. She lives in Colchester with her husband, two children and chocolate Labrador, Rolo. For more information: Website - ruthharrow.com Twitter - twitter.com/ruth_harrow  Release date - 22nd February 2018
Book length - 400 pages Publisher - Orion Books Book Depository - www.bookdepository.com Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Elaine from www.orionbooks.co.uk for providing me with a copy of this beautiful book for review. ABOUT THE BOOK Three women celebrate their birthdays . . . 30. 40. 50. But their milestone birthdays marks the start of a year that will change everything . . . Ginger isn't spending her 30th the way she would have planned. Tonight might be the first night of the rest of her life - or a total disaster. Sam is finally pregnant after years of trying. When her waters break on the morning of her 40th birthday, she panics: forget labour, how is she going to be a mother? Callie is celebrating her 50th at a big party in her Dublin home. Then a knock at the door mid-party turns her perfect life upside down . . . Full of warmth and wisdom, this is a story about finding happiness on your own terms from international bestseller Cathy Kelly. MY REVIEW I'm a longtime fan of Cathy Kelly's books so I was very excited when I heard that there was a new book coming out in February and even more delighted when I received an early copy. Every time I start one of her books I always think there is no way this can be better than her last novel but each time I'm proven wrong. Well with THE YEAR THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING I am going all out and saying this is her best book ever!! Three different women from three different backgrounds at three different stages of their lives are all connected by their birthday and a little village in Ireland which has a hold on them all in different ways. Callie has lost herself in her marriage to Jason who strives for bigger and better all the time even though they already have it all, and she worries for her teenage daughter who seems to have lost touch with reality in her designer world where image is everything. And then there is the fact that she hasn't spoken to her family in ten years, ever since that fight. But when Callie's world is turned upside down it will force her to take control and face up to everything that has happened and return to who she really was all along, that is if she can find the strength to push through it all ... Sam has a wonderful career and a loving husband who she adores but she yearns for a baby. Now she has everything she ever wanted and she is terrified. What if she can't do this? After all, her own relationship with her detached, cold, mother is a disaster and Sam desperately wants to be perfect for her beautiful little girl. But there is no such thing as the perfect mum as Sam will have to find out for herself ... Ginger puts on a strong facade at work and laughs off the insults and the jokes about her weight but this is not what she thought her life would be like at thirty - alone, a virgin, and unhappy with how she looks. In this 'perfect image' obsessed world, Ginger just isn't sure where she fits and having lost her mum when she was a baby, she never really had someone to show her the way. But when she overhears her oldest friend bitch about her in such a cruel way, it destroys her. So when work presents Ginger with a new opportunity, she grabs a hold of it with both hands. Will she finally realise that she must love herself in order to fall in love? With plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, tearful moments, and oh so relatable moments, THE YEAR THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING by Cathy Kelly proves again why this author is the queen of fiction. At a time when women are stepping out of the shadows and demanding to be heard, this novel really resonates and with topics like weight, image, post-natal depression and controlling relationships all expertly handled within these pages, this is so much more than a book. I loved Callie, Sam, and Ginger and their families, but I have to say Ginger held a very special place in my heart. I fell in love with these character's journeys and felt connected to them like they were my own friends which is always such a special thing to happen with a story, and I could not put this book down. This is a book that celebrates the sisterhood and makes you feel empowered and emotional all at the same time. If you only buy one book this year, buy THE YEAR THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING by Cathy Kelly, and it would make the perfect gift for someone special in your life too. Author Bio: Born in Belfast but raised in Dublin, Cathy initially worked for thirteen years as a newspaper journalist with a national Irish Sunday newspaper, where she worked in news, features, along with spending time as an agony aunt and the paper’s film critic. However, her overwhelming love was always fiction and she published her first international bestseller, Woman To Woman, in 1997. She did not become a full-time writer until she had written another two books (She’s The One and Never Too Late) and finally decided to leave the world of journalism in 2001, moving to HarperCollins Publishers at the same time. Someone Like You and What She Wants followed in successive years. Her sixth novel, Just Between Us, was her first Sunday Times number one bestseller, while her eighth novel, Always and Forever, topped the UK bestseller lists in October 2005, displacing Dan Brown and J. K. Rowling. In 2007, Past Secrets in was also a number one paperback bestseller. Lessons in Heartbreak was shortlisted for the Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in April 2009. In September 2009, Once in a Lifetime topped the UK bestseller lists for three weeks. In March 2011, Homecoming achieved the same feat. Her latest novel is It Started With Paris, published by Orion in 2014. In Autumn 2011, Cathy headlined a search for a new writer on ITV’s The Alan Titchmarsh Show. Cathy’s trademark is warm story-telling and she consistently tops the bestseller lists around the world with books which deal with themes ranging from relationships and marriage to depression and loss, but always with an uplifting message and strong female characters at the heart. Cathy also has a passionate interest in children’s rights and is an ambassador for UNICEF Ireland. Her role for UNICEF is a Global Parent, which means raising funds and awareness for children orphaned by or living with HIV/AIDs. She lives with her husband, John, their twin sons, Dylan and Murray, and their three dogs in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow. For more information: Website - www.cathykelly.com Twitter - twitter.com/cathykellybooks Facebook - www.facebook.com/cathykellybooks Instagram - www.instagram.com/cathy_kellybooks/  Release date - 19th February 2018 Book length - 341 pages Publisher - Canelo Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk Amazon US - www.amazon.com I want to thank Ellie from www.canelo.co for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a gripping extract which you can read further on. But first, here is all you need to know about this book!! ABOUT THE BOOK It’s the 1950s and Grundy’s Travelling Fair arrives in town with a bang. When night falls, the local town is drawn to the Fair. But when the fairgoers head home, the Grundys are left behind. Hours are long and the work back-breaking. But family and friends hold things together. Gemma married into the lifestyle, her reliable husband Solomon making the work worthwhile. Solly’s Dad Samson is still the boss, but his other son, known as Sonny, is getting a reputation... Times are changing. Can the family – and the fair – survive? A saga with a twist, join the Grundy family in a gritty but heartwarming novel of love, friendship and secrets. Perfect for fans of Kitty Neale, Lyn Andrews and Rosie Goodwin. AUTHOR BIO: Bestselling author Lynda Page has written over thirty books, and is a well-loved and critically acclaimed saga author. Born and raised in Leicester, where many of her novels take place, she began her prolific writing career in her forty-five minute lunch breaks. Best known for her Jolly’s Holiday Camp series, Lynda is writing a new series exploring life at a travelling fair in the 1950s for Canelo, with the first book, All the Fun of the Fair, out in February 2018. For more information: Twitter - twitter.com/LyndaPage9 Facebook - www.facebook.com/lyndapagebooks/ EXTRACT Chapter One Late March, 1955. On a large slum-clearance site surrounded by a maze of dilapidated back-to-back terraced houses, factories and other industrial buildings, in a rundown area of a south Yorkshire market town, colourful flashing lights lit the dark evening sky and thumping rock and roll music blasted the air. Grundy’s travelling fair had arrived. Inside the surrounding crumbling dwellings and in a progression of more prosperous streets stretching way beyond, a frenzy of activity was underway. Evening meals were being gobbled down, then a rush to wash and change out of school and work clothes for best. Tonight was not one to linger, all occupants desperate to be ready for the off. Every second of the next few hours was to be spent enjoying the thrills and excitement with money saved, stolen, begged or borrowed. Leaning against a lamp post at the edge of the site, drawing deeply on a rolled-up cigarette, was thirty-seven-year-old Solomon Grundy, a ruggedly handsome, muscular man of five foot ten. He was dressed in a pair of black trousers, the sleeves of a white shirt worn under a black waistcoat rolled up to his elbows, and a black pork-pie-style hat that covered short dark hair beginning to grey at his temples gave him a distinguished look, he felt. His wife teased him that it was a sign he was just getting old. He smiled, gratified to see the never-ending stream of excited-looking people being drawn, Pied-Piper-like, towards the entrance. The evening was the sort you’d usually find people behind closed doors, huddled around a blazing fire, but the hordes of animated punters streaming out of side streets and hurrying over the waste ground didn’t seem to notice, the lure of the good time to come all they could think about. It was never possible to predict how lucrative any session was going to be but, judging by the number of people already arriving this early in the evening, it looked set to be profitable. Solly took a last draw from his cigarette before throwing it down, grinding it out with the heel of his shoe and joining the snaking crowd. He might have been on the go since five this morning doing his share readying the fair for opening tonight, the same as everyone else connected with Grundy’s, but along with a couple of gaff lads, he was also in charge of the dodgems tonight. As an expert in all the tricks of the trade, he knew he had already left the youths for far longer than he should, leaving them at liberty to supplement their meagre pay by wrong-changing or tapping, as they called it, the general public. Although it was known this practice went on behind the owner’s back it was not condoned and, if the culprits were caught red-handed, it was an instantly sackable offence. Using centuries-old tricks of the trade to make a living was one thing but, as in all walks of life, there were those that were out for themselves who felt no shame in doing whatever it took to feather their own nest, illicitly or not. The Grundy family, same as all the other fairground operators up and down the country – from the huge outfits to the very small – always had to be on the alert for those blatantly thieving sorts that had infiltrated their fair for fear of tarnishing their reputation. But regardless, deep down, Solly couldn’t blame the gaff lads for lining their pockets by short-changing the odd threepence or sixpence as the pay they received for their hard labours hardly kept them in the basics of food, rolling tobacco and drink. After all, a fairground job was seen as a last resort for those unable to secure themselves anything better through varying reasons; mainly because they had no fixed abode or were ex-prisoners. It was far better than living rough. The job did have its perks for the gaff lads though, as a certain type of female was dazzled by any man connected to the fair, seeing them in the same light as a knight in shining armour and praying to land one and be whisked into what they believed was a glamorous, thrill-a-minute life, far removed from their mundane one, governed by their parents’ rules and regulations. They didn’t realise that, apart from an isolated occasion when a fairground employee did lose his heart to one of these girls, their only interest in them was for sex. All the main rides were in the middle of the fair area, several circular stalls such as hook-a-duck and hoopla dotted between them, the rest forming a horseshoe shape around the boundary edge, the entrance being the gap in the middle. The living caravans were sited a few yards behind the stalls and rides before a tangle of dense undergrowth that edged a rundown part of a canal. The dodgems where Solly was heading were towards the back of the rides area and, to avoid having to fight his way through the crowds at the entrance, he skirted the back of the stalls and was just about to sidle through a narrow gap when above the noise coming from the fair itself, the sound of an angry voice along with someone else yelping in pain reached his ears. It was coming from the edge of the waste ground several yards away where a high wire fence separated it from a building site where the council was building new houses to replace slums. The lights from the fairground didn’t reach that far so Solly couldn’t see what was going on, but it seemed to him that someone was getting a savage beating. He groaned inwardly. He really needed to be supervising the two gaff lads on the dodgems, the most popular ride at the moment; certainly Grundy’s most profitable one. He not only needed to be on hand to keep a watchful eye on the lads, but also to manage troublesome sorts who didn’t like waiting their turn and started making a nuisance of themselves. But apart from the fact that his morals would not allow him to walk away from someone who was in trouble, whether they deserved it or not, should a member of the public happen upon this and call the police, it would be enough excuse for them to close the fair down for the night. Off duty, the police enjoyed a visit to the fair with their families as much as anyone else did but, on duty, some of them regarded being called to deal with incidents at the fair as an extra burden they could do without on top of all the other everyday crimes and would therefore treat fair-related matters far more harshly. Without further ado, Solly spun on his heels and hurried over the uneven ground in the direction the commotion was coming from. His guess that someone was being thrashed was a correct one. Due to the darkness and the lack of any man-made light in this part of the ground, Solly was on top of the scene before he could actually make out what was going on. A middle-aged, thick-set, shabbily dressed man was beating someone with a sturdy walking stick. They were scruffily dressed too, curled up in a foetal position on the ground, hysterically screaming for the attacker to stop. Solly noticed a large tear in the sleeve of his thin brown jacket. The man had his arm raised, ready to deliver the stick down again on his victim, but, without further ado, Solly grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip, demanding, ‘That’s enough of that now, unless you want to land in prison for murder.’ The attacker was stunned by Solly’s intervention and stood staring at him for several moments before he gathered his wits and tried frantically to free his wrist from Solly’s hold. ‘Get the fuck off of me! I’m only giving me son what he deserves. Now get off me, I said.’ DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE OTHER STOPS ALONG THE WAY!!  |
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