Stone Circle by Kate Murdoch

Posted on by Clare
stone circle by Kate Murdoch

Historical fiction with some fantasy for added spice: I am tempted to say it’s the 16th century Italian version of Camelot, complete with Savinus as the Renaissance Merlin. But there is quite a different vision to this story, and hereditary kingship is not among the qualities to be celebrated.
Kate Murdoch’s Stone Circle follows the story of Antonius, a poor lad in Pesaro who works as a servant in the local palazzo’s kitchen to help support his widowed mother and his siblings. Antonius gets the chance to audition to be the new apprentice to the town’s aging seer Savinus, and his mind-reading abilities set him well above the other talent on offer.
Complicated by Savinus’ social obligation to add the Conte’s slightly-talented son as second apprentice, the story gathers emotional depth as the antipathy between the two young men grows to dangerous proportions. At stake is not only the future post as a fully-fledged seer, but also the love of the seer’s clever, self-reliant and talented daughter Giulia.
I’m resisting spoilers here, as usual, but I think readers will enjoy this fully-imagined historical fantasy. There is sumptuous detail and breathless action, mind-reading and shape-shifting, bullying by the church and the rich, and a wonderful rounded finale. Plus a beautiful cover. If you enjoy the likes Juliet Marillier, Mary Stewart, and Katherine Kerr, transport yourself immediately to Pesaro!

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Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller

Posted on by Clare

This book rewards the slower reader, and is full of gentle, perceptive insights into the mysteries of the human art of war and its effects on people. I found it a little slow in parts but I think that the story needed it.
There is quite a lot about how we see ourselves and how we see the world, and this is encapsulated in the story of Emily who is slowly going blind. The story is more about the characters and their thoughts and feelings, even though there is also a terrifying plot line in which the determined assassin Calley strives to find and kill the ‘hero’ Lacroix.
We are invited to consider how we see people, their motivations and their actions. We are also misled and made to view the characters and the action from different points of view. Some of these deliberate misleadings were a little annoying to me, although I do agree they fitted the overall theme. In particular, I found it a bit disconcerting that every chapter and section began with pronouns only, so one must read one or two sentences, or one or two paragrapghs, or one or two pages, to work out who we are reading about now. Also, some characters (eg Nell), in whom we had invested some time and emotion, completely disappear from the story. I think this is a brave and effective way of introducing realism into the story, but it wouldn’t be my preference.
I highly recommend this book as a reflective, poetic, thoughtful and beautifully written exploration of the ongoing effects of violence.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Posted on by Clare

Pat Barker is a consummate storyteller, and this book is no exception. Her depiction of the Trojan War brings a freshness as well as a sameness, but that may be because I have studied (and taught) The Iliad.
Nothing can truly rescue the women from the ravages of war, but Barker has given some of them a voice in this work. It is undeniable that the women are not the major protagonists, because all the action is quarantined to the men – partly because that’s the way the original story was written, and partly because that is the nature of the times in which the story was written (thought to be a few hundred years after the action took place – if it did).
I’m interested to see that even though the bulk of the story is told through Briseis’s first person narrative, it doesn’t seem possible to progress the story without following Achilles, which we do in another voice, third person. Both narratives proceed in the present tense. Add this to the occasional jolt of modern-day colloquial language (Achilles actually says ‘OK’ at one stage!), and the reader is forcefully reminded that nothing much has changed across the centuries. Warriors fight; all of society suffers, and women most of all.
I rate this book very highly, although I admit I’d prefer not to have the colloquial language included (“She’ll do!”; “Look at the knockers on that!” etc.). However, Barker has made a deliberate choice to do use this language, and her astonishing record would say she has every right to make such editorial decisions.
Read it – see what you think.

Guardian of Giria by June Molloy

Posted on by Clare

I love animal stories as you may know – but not just any animal stories – they have to be well-thought out, and not rely on easy cliches about animals, and not turn animals into furry-four-footed humans, plus they have to evoke the natural world convincingly. With love, care, intelligence and compassion.
Aimed at middle grade readers but definitely able to be njoyed by older readers, June Molloy’s Guardian of Giria does exactly that. All of it. And well.
The story is immediately immersive and completely believable (no spoilers here). The differing perspectives of the animal characters in this story all make sense and offer unique insights. There is a lot to learn, a lot to wonder about, but especially a lot to love. I would read more about these characters any time – more books in the same world please!
The interactions between the creatures in their own groups and between groups of other animals is fascinating. Although I have said that these characters are not pseudo-humans, the clever representation of their widely varied world-views does give the reader some cause to reflect on the differences between humans – why they fight – why they go to war – why they love each other.
Felix is probably the most rounded character, though it was Indigo who won my heart. What can I say? I’m a sucker for wolves.
Many readers of fantasy and other speculative fiction will love this book just as much as I did. Similar authors – Kathryn Lasky, Michelle Paver.
More please!

A Perfect Stone by SC Karakaltsas

Posted on by Clare

“It’s for every child who was, and is, a refugee seeking the right to a better life”, says SC Karakalsas of her latest novel. Seeking any life at all, one might say.
Elderly Australian Jim is grieving for his wife Anna, and finding life more and more difficult to manage despite the help of his daughter Helen. When a stroke causes Jim to lose his ability to speak English, his secret history as a Macedonian child refugee during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949) becomes impossible to hide any longer.
“A Perfect Stone” is a vivid and engaging novel that brims with believable characters and a great deal of observational wisdom. Jim – Dimitri – as an older character is a little muddled in his thinking, and the tenderness of the narration makes us understand perfectly why he might seem cantankerous to those around him. Without his wife Anna, he has less direction and certainty about the world, but somehow he has to let Helen know the truth of her heritage.
As a child, Dimitri and his friends suffer the privations and dislocations of a country at war with itself, with whole families never entirely safe from the demands and decrees of the opposing warring parties. Families are separated and children are evacuated to neighbouring countries, travelling with great hardship through difficult territory that is being fought over by partisans and government troops. Add to that the unsettled status of Macedonian families in the new Greek state, and the awful situations of otherness/refugees/them-us/poverty/disenfranchisement appear endemic.
Jim/Dimitri and his wife Anna face their difficulties with courage and sheer hard work. Their contributions to the sanctity of life and to their new country are a wonder and an inspiration. The ending of the book was handled with great care too.
This book will be enjoyed by readers who love history, family stories, migration stories, and historical mysteries. This is also a great book for everyone who’d like to know a little bit more about where we all come from.

Sign up now! Newsletter coming soon…

Posted on by Clare

I have entered a dangerous territory … pop-ups! If you are able to see the pop-up subscribe box on my website, I hope you will consider joining my new project.

At the end of each month, I’ll be sending out a newsletter email with news about books, my latest book reviews, and a little extra now and then.

There will also be FREE flash fiction from me and from guest authors.

I think you’re going to love it. See you soon 🙂

Columbine’s Tale, by Rachel Nightingale

Posted on by Clare

“Without stories, nothing makes sense.”

I think I’m in love with Luka – the Pierrot of the players – and I am very much looking forward to the third book in this fantastic (in all senses of the word) trilogy. It’s about the players of Litonya – actors who travel the land and whose acting disrupts the magical connection between humans and their stories, or their souls if you like.

Brave and unassuming Mina, searching for her lost brother and having gained knowledge of what has poisoned the acting world, must grow into her own powers in order to redress wrongs and rescue the future for creatives as well as the ordinary humans of Litonya.

If you like character development, adventure, magic, intrigue and brilliant world-building, this is for you. Myself, I’m reminded of Ben Aaronovitch’s ‘Rivers of London’ series; of Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew’; of Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar stories; Robin Hobbs’ Liveships books; Katherine Kerr’s Deverry novels; and Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince series, among others.

When I look at that list, it’s clear that Rachel Nightingale can immerse her readers in a completely believable fantasy world with complex but easily understood rules, and that she writes characters of great charm, characters that readers will really care about.

More please! I need to find out how this story ends.

The Secret Horses of Briar Hill, by Megan Shepherd

Posted on by Clare

This is astonishing, magical, and totally unexpected.

A book to keep and to savour forever. Congratulations to all for the brilliant combination of story and illustrations.

The story follows an orphaned, ill girl who is sent to a country hospital (a former manor house) during WWII to be treated for tuberculosis, but although that is the story line, that is not really what this book is about.

Life, death, imagination, magic, the veil between the worlds, the realms of possibility, the lasting impressions of love. If this book was a poem, I would call it a meditation, reflective but not mournful, though it deals with the hard, inescapable facts of our mortality.

Viewed through the eyes of children, this novel is an absolute treat.

Memorable and somehow inevitable: reading about the secret winged horses of Briar Hill immediately makes me believe in them – as if I had always known that they existed.

Read it; I hope you will be just as pleased to add these divine creatures to your inner landscape.

Record of a Spaceborn Few, by Becky Chambers

Posted on by Clare

This is an amazing book, and I loved every minute of it.

It’s my first Becky Chambers and now I have to read more.

Here are my three top quotes:

“Yet it was a quiet grief, an everyday grief, a heaviness and a lightness all at once.”

“That’s how we’ll survive, even if not all of us do.”

“Our species doesn’t operate by reality. It operates by stories.”

Yes – now that is completely true.

I loved the cast of diverse characters/species and the plot threads that connected them all. I loved the worlds and the perspectives, and the clarity of this story. I was a little impatient with teenager Kip, but hey, that’s what teenagers are for! The alien viewpoints were also fascinating.

One of my best reads of 2018, for sure.

Cassandra by Kathryn Gossow

Posted on by Clare

This book is an addictive read – once you start, you really have to keep going.

Cassie and her future-seeing make for fascinating reading. I found the child and then teenage perspective totally credible, and in fact it reminded me of my own early years when adults were very annoying and unpredictable, and the last person you would turn to.

Cassie is fortunate in having her grandfather and great aunt living with her and her family on the farm, because the generation gap allows for more real communication.
Her new and unusual neighbour Athena is a wonderful character, and I would like to know more about her – where she came from, where she went to – and am still wondering at the end of the book. Cassie, her brother Alex, and Athena steal the show for me. Characters I love. Yes, tears were shed … but you need to read it to find out why!

A page-turning, moving exploration of potential, imagination, and how to deal with everything real life throws at you.

*spoiler-ish*
I was disappointed in Cassie’s mum and her eventual decisions, but I won’t go right into that. See what you think. Cassie’s perspective on that is completely convincing and made my heart ache for her – but that happened quite a bit in this book.