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A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Stars Across the Ocean by Kimberley Freeman

1874: Only days before she is to leave the foundling home where she grew up, Agnes Resolute discovers that, as a baby, she had been abandoned with a small token of her mother: a unicorn button.

Agnes always believed her mother had been too poor to keep her, but after working as a laundress in the home she recognises the button as belonging to Genevieve Breckby, the beautiful and headstrong daughter of a local noble family. Agnes had seen Genevieve once, in the local village, and had never forgotten her.

Despite having no money, Agnes will risk everything in a quest that will take her from the bleak moors of northern England to the harsh streets of London, then on to Paris and Ceylon. As Agnes follows her mother’s trail, she makes choices that could cost her dearly. Finally, in Australia, she tracks Genevieve down. But is Genevieve capable of being the mother Agnes hopes she will be?

This historical fiction novel by Kimberley Freeman moves between past and present. The book opens in the present (no specific year mentioned) with a young woman named Victoria travelling from Australia to England to assist her ill mother, who has had an accident at work and is currently in recovery. Victoria helps her mother recover some documents from her workplace and then she finds a letter from the 19th century. It’s a letter from an unknown woman to her child that she gave away. Victoria reads the letter and becomes enthralled in the circumstances surrounding it.

The letter then abruptly cuts off and the novel takes us back to Agnes Resolute’s story in the mid 19th century. She is on a desperate search to find her birth mother and this search takes her to London, Paris, Ceylon and then on to Australia. It’s a novel about loss, love, identity and family.

Even though Harriet adored me, even though she didn’t believe women should be so constrained as we are, she used all the words I expected. ‘Improper’ and ‘unsuitable’: even ‘shocking’ and ‘indecent’.
‘Emile Venson is a carpenter,’ she said to me at the end. ‘You cannot fall in love with a carpenter.’

Kimberley Freeman has crafted an enjoyable historical fiction novel. The transition between past and present is smooth and not confusing at all, and the writing is effortless. The storyline keeps readers on their toes and eager to find out more, and the huge cast of characters are interesting to read and engaging for the reader.

Agnes spends almost the entire novel following Genevieve Breckby, an allusive woman that Agnes believes is her mother. Genevieve is hard to track down. First, Agnes travels to London and works for a time with Genevieve’s sister Marianna and Genevieve’s son Julius. And then she continues to follow the woman’s trail all the way to Australia. Kimberley Freeman constantly flicks between past and present as Victoria finds out more information about the illusive woman who has written this letter. The reader then finds out all the circumstances of the birth because the actual story is being detailed intermittently as well.

Agnes’ heart fell all the way to her toes. This house did not look inhabited, just like the house in Colombo. That meant she was miles and miles from anywhere, without means to return to the village — and, quite honestly, barely any idea which way the village lay — and evening was approaching.

I felt like Agnes wasn’t a hugely likeable protagonist. She came across extremely naive and there were a few parts in the novel where I could sense exactly what was going to happen. When she decides to sleep at the abandoned train station, I knew she was going to wake up to find that her suitcase had been stolen. And when she arrives in London and is accommodated by Madame Beaulieu, I could tell that Beaulieu was a running a brothel and would no doubt be an antagonist in the novel. Everyone seemed to know it but Agnes, and when Madame Beaulieu took her purse and wouldn’t give her back her money, I was not at all surprised.

“After her encounter with Monsieur Valois, she was more certain than ever that she would not sell her body as Madame Beaulieu wanted her to, and no amount of vile menial work would have her change her mind. She could endure it; it wasn’t forever.”

I know that Agnes is supposed to be in her late teens, but Kimberley dropped a lot of hints and things then became a little predictable. Agnes’ nativity became a little exhausting, thus making her an unlikable character. The ending to the novel, which I won’t give away in this review, was also something that I found predictable. I picked the ‘twist’ about 100 pages into the book, feeling like Kimberley made it too easy for the reader and that there were a lot of hints and comments that gave away the ending.

I would recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction — while it has some flaws, it is interesting and enjoyable. Kimberley has illustrated all of the different settings so well; she has captured the feel and atmosphere of each location with great skill. And as far as historical fiction goes, Stars Across the Ocean is intriguing and engaging and you’ll want to read until the end.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Stars Across the Ocean
Kimberley Freeman
May 2017
Hachette Publishers

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson

In a tiny two-bed flat above a Turkish café on Neal Street lives Anna Treadway, a young dresser at the Galaxy Theatre.

When the American actress Iolanthe Green disappears after an evening’s performance at the Galaxy, the newspapers are wild with speculation about her fate. But as the news grows old and the case grows colder, it seems Anna is the only person left determined to find out the truth.

Her search for the missing actress will take her into an England she did not know existed: an England of jazz clubs and prison cells, backstreet doctors and seaside ghost towns, where her carefully calibrated existence will be upended by violence but also, perhaps, by love.

Set in London in the 1960s, Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is mostly a mystery novel, with young dresser Anna Treadway taking it upon herself to search for the missing actress Lolanthe Green. It’s quite a clever novel, because it’s actually not just about the disappearance of Lolanthe, but it also an exploration about minorities in London and their experiences in the town.

“You’re sure she ran away?” Helen asked her.
“I have to believe it.”
“From what, though?”
“From us?” Anna shrugged. “I don’t know. Money trouble.”
“Men,” said Rachel.

Through Anna’s detective work, we meet all kinds of characters, including Brennan, Orla and their daughter Gracie. Anna intersects with Leonard, who is gay and is struggling to live with that because it’s illegal. Ottamar is a Turkish cafe owner who is overworked and overly worried about his daughter Samira. She seems to be disconnecting with the family and spending all of her time away from them, and Ottamar worries about what this could mean for the family. Finally, we meet Aloysius, who is well-spoken and is helpful to Anna in her quest to find Lolanthe, but he’s subjected to appalling racism and police brutality because of the colour of his skin.

“Ottmar’s mind drifted free of the assembled group and took him back to Melanippus’ vast living room in Nicosia with its marble floor and long dark leather seats. In a former life he’d written book reviews for a Greek magazine in his native Cyprus. The only Turk on the staff, he’d spent his evenings smoking cigarettes and talking about art and philosophy and life with all the other twenty-somethings who dreamed of flying away to a life of avant-garde delights in Paris or Berlin.”

Miranda has a talent for weaving lots of different characters together and moulding them in the one scene. The reader doesn’t feel confused or unsure of who is talking or who is the focus of the chapter — all the characters blend well together. Miranda has also taken us on a journey through the good and bad parts of history. We’re led through the streets of backdoor abortion and side street racism, but we’re also witnesses to the beautiful familial bond that some of the characters have, and the support that they have for each other. Some of the characters help Anna when she’s in need, and it’s great to see their friendships and relationships form.


“The police had beaten Aloysius and walked away from it. And somehow the overturning of one institution has cast all the rest into doubt. If the police were not what she supposed them to be, were the lawyers, were the priests, were the politicians?”

Miranda has done a wonderful job of capturing 1960s London, with the evocative description of the setting and the cultural relations between the characters. Set in London, we bear witness to the hopes and dreams of people in the arts. Some of them are past their prime and coming to terms with their ageing looks. Some are aware that their skin colour will probably always be a barrier for them in life and that their dreams may be farther than they thought.

“Look out into the darkness,” Lolanthe had told her. “Look out into the darkness and you’ll see them.”

Despite how lyrical and intriguing this story is, I did find my attention waning. I couldn’t help but feel like the story went on tangents and the origin of the novel and the reason we were drawn into the story (the disappearance of ‘Lanny’ Green) got a little lost along the way. Things became a little convoluted, and I got a little bit confused.

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars is a novel about fitting in, in a city that’s not very forgiving to outsiders and is not welcoming for newcomers. It’s a tough decade for the characters, and finding Iolanthe Green has plenty of roadblocks. London is filled with casual racism, police brutality, immigration, loneliness and characters dreaming of more.

I received a copy of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars
Miranda Emmerson
January 2017
HarperCollins Publishers

The End of the Day by Claire North

Charlie has a new job. He gets to travel, and he meets interesting people, some of whom are actually pleased to see him.

It’s good to have a friendly face, you see. At the end.

But the end of all things is coming. Charlie’s boss and his three associates are riding out, and it’s Charlie’s job to go before.

Sometimes he is sent as a courtesy, sometimes as a warning. He never knows which.

The End of the Day is an adult fiction novel about The Harbinger of Death, also known as Charlie. He meets everyone — but only once. You might meet him in a hospital, in a warren, or at the scene of a traffic accident. Then again, you might meet him at the North Pole — he gets everywhere, our Charlie. Sometimes he is sent as a courtesy, sometimes as a warning. He never knows which.

You see, Charlie is the person who visits you before Death does. Sometimes it’s because you’re going to die, but sometimes it’s because he needs to gift you something. In one instance, Charlie had to gift someone a helmet. That person then wore the helmet and it was the only thing that kept him alive when he was hit by a car. And so Death passed him on by, no longer needing to collect him.

Charlie learns a lot from his new job as the Harbinger of Death. He sees new places and learns so much about the world — he opens his eyes. He is also sees the horrors of the world. In one part of the book, he is in Africa with a female comedian and a group of men approach them, intending to sexually assault her. They get away, but when Charlie reports it to the police, they pretend it didn’t happen and they make excuses for the man.

“You don’t know much about our country, do you?” breathed the older man, not unkindly. “That’s all right. Not many people do. They talk about this continent — Africa — as if it was one big place, as if your Scotland was the same as Greece. It’s Africa, they say, it’s just how Africa is.”

The End of the Day is quite poetic and lyrical, with shortened sentences and experimentation of punctuation. There are almost 100 chapters in this book, with some chapters only being half a page or less. It allows the reader to go through the book quickly, reading the story in short bursts.

The novel is broken up into nine parts, each separated an even amount. I found this quite useful, because in addition to the chapters, breaking the book up into parts allowed me to easily bookmark where I was up to and come back to it. Each part of the book really focused on a different aspect of Charlie’s life, so if you took some time between reading each part, it wouldn’t matter. You’d still be able to follow what was happening.

“A man lay on the ice.
He lay like one sleeping, a peaceful child, his knees tucked in, his head resting on his hands, his eyes closed. He was, Charlie was absolutely certain, dead.”

Charlie forms his own questions on his journey. What is death? Why is death? What role does he really play in death? A few times in the novel, Charlie is kidnapped and asked those questions. He can’t really answer, because he’s still struggling to understand it himself.

The End of the Day is a novel to be savoured — the writing is beautiful and the characterisation thick with layers. There’s definitely more at play here. The book is making a comment on the world, and the rapid decline of it. The book is making a social commentary about all the different aspects of the world and all the things that impact it negatively, from Death to War to Pestilence to Famine. There’s a Harbinger for all of them, and Charlie crosses paths with them too in the novel.

“Rock far rock far
still far
near now?
near yet far
the ice roars the ice is breaking the ice is breaking beneath your feet walk and
a thundering behind, the world growing short again, the collapse chasing them as they moved”

I really loved this novel, but it is an investment for readers. It’s long and it requires a fair bit extra to unpack it — more than your usual fiction novel. Read this if you love your literary fiction. Read this is if you’re looking for something that’s just a little bit different (in both plot and writing structure).

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The End of the Day
Claire North
April 2017
Hachette Publishers

Her Mother’s Secret by Natasha Lester

1918, England. Armistice Day should bring peace into Leonora’s life. Rather than secretly making cosmetics in her father’s chemist shop to sell to army nurses such as Joan, her adventurous Australian friend, Leo hopes to now display her wares openly. Instead, Spanish flu arrives in the village, claiming her father’s life.

Determined to start over, she boards a ship to New York City. On the way she meets debonair department store heir Everett Forsyth . . . In Manhattan, Leo works hard to make her cosmetics dream come true, but she’s a woman alone with a small salary and a society that deems make-up scandalous.

1939, New York City. Everett’s daughter, Alice, a promising ballerina, receives a mysterious letter inviting her to star in a series of advertisements for a cosmetics line. If she accepts she will be immortalized like dancers such as Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Ginger Rogers. Why, then, are her parents so quick to forbid it?

Her Mother’s Secret is a historical fiction novel set in America in the early 1900s. Leo’s father has recently died and she’s boarded a ship to NYC to start over. She dreams that her cosmetic creations will be stocked in department stores. She’s crafted lipsticks, glosses and mascaras and despite judgement and scolding, she knows that beautiful, glamorous makeup is what women will want.

Prior to boarding the ship, Leo meets Everett Forsyth. He’s gorgeous, captivating and the two of them share one night together. But then Leo meets Everett’s fiancé, and any hope she had of the two of them being together is lost. Leo realises that even though they may be soulmates and he may be the love of her life, she needs to venture out on her own. The two of them part ways.

“Leo searched for the right words to describe her encounter with Everett. He was the first man who’d kissed her with passion, open-mouthed; the first man who’d brought her body fully to life. The first man who’d made her understand what love was. But she couldn’t say that.”

Natasha Lester’s writing style is accessible and easy to read. The characters are inviting and relatable, and we are engaged throughout the entire book. Leo is strong, smart and determined, but she is forced to fight society’s perception of her and society’s gender inequality. Despite being set in the early 1900s, this inequality can definitely still be found in the world today. It was humbling to read about someone who carved her own future despite all the odds being stacked against her.

“So Leo does have something of value.”
“Besides a propensity to sleep with men she shouldn’t,” Faye bit back.
“Didn’t you once say you’d followed a rake to England? I assume you didn’t just hold his hand,” Leo said.

Despite some of the characters being incredibly flawed, Natasha has put together an ensemble cast that compliment each other and really help drive the story. I really sympathised for Leo, who had to work so hard and who had to compromise with other people who didn’t really work hard at all. But, despite this, Leo forms a strong bond with two other women: Jia and Lottie. Together they plan and create the products. They’re not just Leo’s colleagues — they’re her friends. The two of them help Leo through some really tough times, and it was great to see their friendship grow over the course of the novel.

“The salon opened its doors in September 1920. On that day, Leo stood in the main room with Jia and Lottie, eyeing what they’ve done, feeling so proud.”

The factual events in the book highlight Natasha’s research, for example Elizabeth Arden and the Red Door Studio. There is also a lot of information about how Leo makes her cosmetics and the chemistry and science behind them. It’s actually really interesting and intriguing if you don’t know anything about it (like me!) and getting a glimpse into all this behind-the-scenes information was my favourite part of the book (as well as the romance, of course!).

Natasha has crafted a really glamorous, envious setting for most of the book. The people that Leo meets and the connections she makes opens her up to a lot of opportunities she didn’t otherwise have. Yes, she goes through her fair share of struggles but she also paves her own way through a very elite and glamorous group of wealthy people. She’s also a very intelligent woman with a very strategic mind.

Her Mother’s Secret is fun, fabulous and bold. The characters are wonderful, and they make the story pop. I loved this book so much that upon finishing it, I immediately went and bought Natasha’s previous book A Kiss from Mr. Fitzgerald. There have been very few books that I’ve adored so much that I’ve gone and bought backlist without a second thought.

Natasha was inspired to write the book after working as the marketing manager for the head office of L’Oreal. If you want to know more, Natasha has written a fantastic blog post series on her website about writing this book. I highly recommend you give it a read HERE.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Her Mother’s Secret
Natasha Lester
April 2017
Hachette Publishers

It’s Not Me, It’s You by Mhairi McFarlane

It’s Not Me, It’s You is a hilarious romance/chick lit novel from Mhairi McFarlane, author of Who’s That Girl?

Delia Moss isn’t quite sure what went wrong. She proposes to her boyfriend, he says yes and then he accidentally sends a message to Delia that he intended to send to his mistress. So, their relationship ends, and she needs a change. She moves to Newcastle for a PR job and lives with her best friend in the meantime. And of course, there’s a handsome journalist on the prowl threatening to expose her new boss and Delia tries to singlehandedly fend him off. All in all, this book is a jam-packed, hilarious recipe for a great romance read.

“Uncovering an affair wasn’t a one big fact headline story. It was like Metroyshka dolls, lies inside lies inside lies.”

This book is smart and funny, with characters you fall in love with and hilarious mishaps that you want to relive. Mhairi McFarlane has written another novel with comic romance and a dreamy love interest. The dialogue is witty and sarcastic and the book is laugh-out-loud funny.

“Ann’s policing of the office fridge was frightening. Despite being post-menopausal, she decanted her semi-skimmed into a plain container and labelled it ‘BREAST MILK’ to ward off thieves.”

There’s something in this book that I’m sure all readers can relate to – what do you do when the rug gets pulled out from under you? This is for all readers who’ve been suddenly dumped, or fired, or evicted. It’s for those of us who may need a little escape from the world right now – something to laugh at and giggle over. The characters are three dimensional and real, and the situations realistic.

“One night with you and he’s turned into a love-letter writer. You must have an incredible pelvic floor.”

I found my attention dropping off in the middle of the book. I felt like the book was about 100 pages too long and I couldn’t see where the story was going. The romance interested me and I persevered in order to find out what happens, but the storyline with Delia’s PR job and its complications are perhaps not strong enough to keep the ‘occasional reader’ interested. I soldiered on because it’s Mhairi McFarlane and I knew it’d have a satisfying conclusion, but I it was a real effort during those middle chapters.

It’s Not Me, It’s You is about picking yourself up after some hardships. It’s about taking that necessary time out to figure out what you really want and what you really need, and then going for it. It may take Delia a while to figure that out, but she does, and it’s uplifting and enjoyable for the reader.

I recommend this book to romantic fiction lovers, and to fans of chick lit. This is a feel-good book full of hilarity and heart. It’s one of those stories where you know it’s going to end up alright, like a Disney movie or a Hollywood rom-com.

It’s Not Me, It’s You
Mhairi McFarlane
November 2014
HarperCollins Publishers

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