Each year I think I should to a ‘first post’ for the year, and without fail, I manage to forget. Then suddenly there is one week left of January and I am back in the swing of, well, life (and all my old forgetful habits), as if the ‘new year‘ is an alien concept that I can’t quite remember.
So here we are – hello 2023!
I have some exciting plans in mind both for this website, and in terms of my publishing goals for the year. This includes a more regular posting schedule for my book reviews and my other writing projects. As well as some new writing projects for the year.
I am also hoping to set up a newsletter later in the year to coincide with a possible hardback re-release of my poetry collection. (So keep an eye out for that, as I will post more about that later!) The newsletter would include more about my writing process as well as updates for future publications with Tea & Books Press.
Let me know if there is anything you’d like to see more of here, or if you have any book recommendations you can use the ‘Contact’ page on the site. To finish, bring on 2023, and I wish you all the best in the new year!
In 1914, when the war draws the young men of Britain away to fight, it is the women who must keep the nation running. Two of those women are Peggy and Maude, twin sisters who work in the bindery at Oxford University Press in Jericho. Peggy is intelligent, ambitious and dreams of going to Oxford University, but for most of her life she has been told her job is to bind the books, not read them. Maude, meanwhile, wants nothing more than what she has. She is extraordinary but vulnerable. Peggy needs to watch over her.
When refugees arrive from the devastated cities of Belgium, it sends ripples through the community and through the sisters’ lives. Peggy begins to see the possibility of another future where she can use her intellect and not just her hands, but as war and illness reshape her world, it is love, and the responsibility that comes with it, that threaten to hold her back.
My Thoughts:
I have been glued to this novel for the past few days. So much so, that I am not sure where to start with this review. The Bookbinder of Jericho is everything it’s companion novel The Dictionary of Lost Words is, and if possible, more. Williams’ prose is enchanting, and the way she blends historical events into the fiction of the story is seamless, making for an unforgettable novel.
Following Peggy as she navigates her life amidst changes brought on by the First World War made for a very interesting perspective to read through. Working at a bookbinders and looking out for her twin sister is all she is expected to do with her life but Peggy wants more. Especially in a world where women still only very few privileges, and even less so with Peggy’s lower social status, ‘more’ is something she feels she can only dream of. Peggy very quickly became one of my favourite characters along with her sister Maude, and not only because she is the main character. Peggy is bright, thoughtful, curious, and questions everything which I loved about her.
Maude is also a wonderful character in this novel, and as much as she is Peggy’s family, she is also sometimes viewed by her as a hinderance to her getting more from her life. It is clear from the way that Maude is talked about and described in the novel as what might have been described as ‘special’ at the time. Now she would most likely be described as being on the Autism Spectrum. I felt an instant love for this character. I found her insight into this story and it’s characters highly valuable. I really liked the way that Williams’ wrote her character, making her presence in the novel one I loved to read.
The prose of this novel is simply beautiful. Williams’ captures the heart and soul of a scene with a finesse that makes the words shine off the page. I lost count of the number of times I just had to sit there with a phrase after I read it. This novel made me smile, it made me laugh, it made me cry. There is so much pain and heartache as expected with a novel set when this one is, but it is balanced with warmth and love, and in such a way that I feel doesn’t take away from the horrors the war brought.
I cannot finish this review without talking about the seamless integration of both novels. This is well and truly a companion novel as opposed to a sequel. Beginning at the cusp of the First World War, this novel also settles itself nearing the end of it’s companion novel. It brings a few of the well loved characters from The Dictionary of Lost Words and they fit naturally into Peggy’s story while not taking over which I loved. With this novel, Williams’ yet again demonstrates her skill in blending historical fact with the fiction of the story in such a way that is engaging to the reader. I highly recommend this novel to any reader of historical fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley, Affirm Press and Pip Williams for gifting me this ARC (Advanced Review Copy). I am leaving this review voluntarily. This title will be published 28th March 2023.
When the dean of Bishop College in Boston threatened to close Petra Ambrose’s Pre-Revolutionary American History department, she could feel all of her work towards her dream career slipping through her fingers. To her dismay, students weren’t interested in American Puritanical culture and the status of women in their time, not unless it involved trendy witches glamourized in modern society.
In a last hope to save her job, Petra was tasked with finding something new and exciting to draw in more students. Not exactly sure where to start, she headed up the coast to explore sites other than cliche and touristy Salem.
Small-town Maine had her imagining a quaint village straight out of a romance novel on the water. To some extent, she found it, with the quirky, nosy neighbors, but Deadlights Cove was entirely too dingy to be run by its no-nonsense mayor. Plus, everyone in town seemed to be in on some joke at her expense, none more so than the mischievous and overly friendly bartender, Blaze. Far too handsome for his own good, the man had the unfair ability to irritate her more than anyone else ever had while simultaneously setting her heart racing.
With obstacles popping up at every turn, Petra was ready to throw her hands up and go back to the drawing board for a new strategy until she wound up at the center of a murder investigation.
Nothing was as it seemed in Deadlights Cove, and Petra could have just unearthed more than she’d ever imagined. But was discovering the truth about this town worth giving up everything she’d worked so hard for?
My Thoughts:
Do you ever start a book and know that from the first few pages you read that you will absolutely love it? That is what happed for me with B. Perkins and Aimee Vances’ Smoke Show. I had read Vance’s other series, Call of the Norns, so this new series she has been writing with Perkins has been high on my TBR for quite a while now (and since then they have published more in the Deadlights Cove series so I am keen to read those at some point too).
Everything about this novel from it’s wonderful characters to the witty humour was an absolute delight to read. I love the world these two authors have created together with the small town of Deadlights Cove. It feels like a small town should feel – strange but well suited locals, buildings that house more than one attraction (or seemingly the wrong attraction), and a bar that everyone frequents, and I mean everyone. It all felt very real to me, enhanced by the cagey town inhabitants and their secrets. Even while those secrets were paranormal in nature- actually, especially so.
The romance was really sweet to follow, and I loved being able to read the perspectives of both Petra and Blaze. Both their inner voices were amusing to read, and the story flowed nicely between both points of view. The side characters were also a lot of fun. I think my favourite had to be Orion. He was wonderfully surly, but you can tell he is a softy underneath it all. His friendship with Blaze was fun to read two as they are both so different.
I enjoyed the murder mystery throughout, especially with it’s paranormal ties. I found it flowed nicely with the romance plot, not taking away from it but adding to it in part. I am interested to see if future books in the series have a bit of a mystery to them or not. Though I will be reading them regardless.
I recommend this to anyone looking for a fun and very sweet romance novel that has both mystery and paranormal elements. This was so much more than just romance novel, and I found myself delightfully rereading some of my favourite lines as I read.
An estranged father. An abused and abusive mother. An army of relatives. A tapestry of violence, woven across generations and geographies, from Turkey to Lebanon to Western Sydney. This is the legacy left to Jamal Smith, a young queer Muslim trying to escape a past in which memory and rumour trace ugly shapes in the dark. When every thread in life constricts instead of connects, how do you find a way to breathe? Torn between faith and fear, gossip and gospel, family and friendship, Jamal must find and test the limits of love.
In this extraordinary work, Omar Sakr deftly weaves a multifaceted tale brimming with angels and djinn, racist kangaroos and adoring bats, examining with a poet’s eye the destructive impetus of repressed desire and the complexities that make us human.
My Thoughts:
I picked up this book at an event at the State Library last year and I honestly wish I’d read it sooner. This was such a heartbreakingly beautiful read. I flew through it in just over two days and was completely immersed for every moment.
Told in parts, across main character Jamal’s life as he grows to try and accept himself and navigate his world. Each section felt distinct with subtle changes in narrative voice to indicate as such. On the whole, I feel I connected more, and so, more enjoyed reading the earlier half of the novel. It didn’t take away from the ending for me in any way, but I did find the earlier sections of the novel more impactful.
With this novel, Sakr treads the line between poetry and prose wonderfully. It is easy to tell that he is a poet – his use of language to evoke emotion in his work feels rather lyrical. Making the emotions that much more tangible to me as I read. While this is a work of fiction, there is something painfully real, and honest in Sakr’s words.
I highly recommend this novel. There is something intoxicating about the use of language in this novel which has stuck with me well after I finished reading. I will most definitely be on the look out for anything else Sakr publishes, as well as having a look for his poetry too.
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of attending the book launch and poetry reading for the anthology ‘Best of Australian Poems 2022’. This is the second in it’s series, an anthology from the national poetry organisation Australian Poetry (AP) that celebrates Australian poets and their poetry.
…Best of Australian Poems 2022 strives to bring together 100 of Australia’s most poignant, original, and challenging works…
Best of Australian Poems 2022, Jeanie Leane and Judith Beveridge (ed.) – Foreword, pg. V
The night was an absolute delight to attend, and was an example of how wonderful the creative minds of Australian poets can be. Several of the poets chosen in the anthology were selected to read their featured poem. There was such a wide range of poetry forms read throughout the evening, and all poems were engaging and thought provoking.
I ended up purchasing both the collections for 2021 and 2022 and I am really looking forward to being able to take the time to read through them both over the weekend. So expect a possible post about them in more detail soon. From what I heard on Tuesday night, these will be very enlightening reads.
Collectively the poetry in this book tells an important part of Australia’s story.
Best of Australian Poems 2022, Jeanie Leane and Judith Beveridge (ed.) – Foreword, pg. IX
With the quality of Australian poets and poetry displayed on Tuesday evening, I will certainly be attending the book launch for the next anthology from Australian Poetry.
When the dean of Bishop College in Boston threatened to close Petra Ambrose’s Pre-Revolutionary American History department, she could feel all of her work towards her dream career slipping through her fingers. To her dismay, students weren’t interested in American Puritanical culture and the status of women in their time, not unless it involved trendy witches glamourized in modern society.
In a last hope to save her job, Petra was tasked with finding something new and exciting to draw in more students. Not exactly sure where to start, she headed up the coast to explore sites other than cliche and touristy Salem.
Small-town Maine had her imagining a quaint village straight out of a romance novel on the water. To some extent, she found it, with the quirky, nosy neighbors, but Deadlights Cove was entirely too dingy to be run by its no-nonsense mayor. Plus, everyone in town seemed to be in on some joke at her expense, none more so than the mischievous and overly friendly bartender, Blaze. Far too handsome for his own good, the man had the unfair ability to irritate her more than anyone else ever had while simultaneously setting her heart racing.
With obstacles popping up at every turn, Petra was ready to throw her hands up and go back to the drawing board for a new strategy until she wound up at the center of a murder investigation.
Nothing was as it seemed in Deadlights Cove, and Petra could have just unearthed more than she’d ever imagined. But was discovering the truth about this town worth giving up everything she’d worked so hard for?
My Thoughts:
Do you ever start a book and know that from the first few pages you read that you will absolutely love it? That is what happed for me with B. Perkins and Aimee Vances’ Smoke Show. I had read Vance’s other series, Call of the Norns, so this new series she has been writing with Perkins has been high on my TBR for quite a while now (and since then they have published more in the Deadlights Cove series so I am keen to read those at some point too).
Everything about this novel from it’s wonderful characters to the witty humour was an absolute delight to read. I love the world these two authors have created together with the small town of Deadlights Cove. It feels like a small town should feel – strange but well suited locals, buildings that house more than one attraction (or seemingly the wrong attraction), and a bar that everyone frequents, and I mean everyone. It all felt very real to me, enhanced by the cagey town inhabitants and their secrets. Even while those secrets were paranormal in nature- actually, especially so.
The romance was really sweet to follow, and I loved being able to read the perspectives of both Petra and Blaze. Both their inner voices were amusing to read, and the story flowed nicely between both points of view. The side characters were also a lot of fun. I think my favourite had to be Orion. He was wonderfully surly, but you can tell he is a softy underneath it all. His friendship with Blaze was fun to read two as they are both so different.
I enjoyed the murder mystery throughout, especially with it’s paranormal ties. I found it flowed nicely with the romance plot, not taking away from it but adding to it in part. I am interested to see if future books in the series have a bit of a mystery to them or not. Though I will be reading them regardless.
I recommend this to anyone looking for a fun and very sweet romance novel that has both mystery and paranormal elements. This was so much more than just romance novel, and I found myself delightfully rereading some of my favourite lines as I read.
Writing(s) by Anna 