R Cawkwell

Extract: A Song of Isolation, by Michael J Malone

Film star Amelie Hart is the darling of the silver screen, appearing on the front pages of every newspaper. But at the peak of her fame she throws it all away for a regular guy with an ordinary job. The gossip columns are aghast: what happened to the woman who turned heads wherever she went?

Any hope the furore will die down are crushed when Amelie’s boyfriend Dave is arrested on charges of child sexual abuse. Dave strongly asserts his innocence, and when Amelie refuses to denounce him, the press furore quickly turns into physical violence, and she has to flee the country.

While Dave is locked up with the most depraved men in the
country and Amelie is hiding on the continent, Damaris, the victim
at the centre of the story, is also isolated – a child trying to make sense of an adult world…

PUBLICATION DATE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2020 | PAPERBACK ORIGINAL | £8.99| ORENDA BOOKS

Blog tour calendar: Ravishment, by James Walker

Blog tour calendar: Nothin’ But A Good Time, by Justin Quirk

Future Plans for my blog and book blogging

Good morning, I’ve been doing some thinking. I’m completely booked up for September and October. I keep getting myself overbooked and it’s stressing me out because I put pressure on myself to do everything, to help everyone. I don’t like to disappoint anyone, especially Anne Cater at Random Things Tours, Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources, and Kelly at Love Books Tours, who have been so helpful and supportive in my blogging adventures.

I have also collected quite a large number of books that I want to read and haven’t had the chance because I’m committed to so many blog tours. I do want to read some of the books I have bought for myself in the last 15 months. I have at least 100 books in my TBR pile, some from Harrogate last year, plus my Pen & Sword pile. Not to mention my sci fi and fantasy collection. I have enough that I need a new six foot bookshelf.

After October, I plan to focus on my TBR pile; I am sure a book will come up that I won’t be able to say no to, so there will be occasional blog tours but they won’t be as regular as they have been. Maximum, one a month. I will be reviewing the books I read because they deserve to be talked about.

Cover Reveal: The Coconut Girl by Sunita Thind

The Coconut Girl is a collection of poems containing material that is from the Indian, female point of view with an insight into Punjabi culture. We also follow the author through the hallucinogenic state of the brain following cancer treatment, and in her experience of life in multi cultural Britain.

The protagonist in the poems is at the same time deeply vulnerable and strongly independent. Overall her strength of character shines through

The Coconut Girl features poetry of deep imagery, not least in some of the poems exploring the experience of the female body post-operatively, such as in My Womb Is A Park Of Carnage.

Cover Reveal: A Stranger in Paris by Karen Webb

Aberystwyth University, 1986 – and another year of torrential rain. Bad hair days and a rugby-fanatic fiancé are part of her drab existence so who can blame Karen for falling into the arms of a handsome Parisian?

Hastening across The Channel with stars in her eyes, she speeds to the city of light only to discover that her lover is nowhere to be found. Nor what he seemed.

Life takes a turn for the better when her old school-friend Jessica makes a dramatic entrance, encouraging Karen on a downward spiral of adventure – including a brush with the Parisian underworld which places both girls in peril.

Karen’s childhood is a constant anguish reminding her that when things go wrong, not everyone has a home to return to, as the dark shadows of the past merge with her troubled French life.

Where to go, when there’s no going home?

Based on a true story, A Stranger in Paris is the first of a three-part series. This honest memoir recounts with humour and poignancy the search for love and family.

More info: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08BTDB26P/?ref=exp_kellysloveofbooks_dp_vv_d

Blog tour calendar: The Seven Doors, by Agnes Ravatn

Blog tour calendar: A Song of Isolation, by Michael J. Malone

Pen & Sword Review: The Last Days of Steam, by Malcolm Clegg

The Last Days of British Steam — By Malcolm Clegg
Imprint: Pen & Sword Transport
Pages: 144
Illustrations: 200 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 9781526760425
Published: 7th August 2020

This volume covers the final decade of British steam, looking at steam traction in a wide variety of geographical locations around the British Railways network.

The book covers a wide variety of classes of locomotives, that were withdrawn during the last decade of steam traction, some examples of which are now preserved.

Malcolm Clegg has been taking railway pictures since the early 1960s and has access to collections taken by friends who were recording the steam railway scene during this period.

This book is a record of his and other people’s journeys during the last decade of steam in the 1960s.

My Review

This book is a collection of photographs from the 1960s of steam engines. The author has clearly been taking pictures for a long time and this was an interesting time in British transport. When the rest of the world was moving to diesel and electric, Britain stayed with steam. Then the government destroyed the network in favour of motorways and private transport, because the minister in charge had a vested interest in road building. New engines were scrapped when they still had thirty years of working life in them. What a travesty!

The book is substantial and covers a large range of engines, with captions giving details of the engine pictured and the place, if known. The images are in black and white which adds to the nostalgia of the book. The book is glossy and substantial, which is useful for those who are interested in trains of the era, reconstruction and reclamation of trains that they might find, or railway model enthusiasts.