It’s always exciting hearing from satisfied readers. My heart is singing.
I was so incredibly lucky that the sun shone for the book launch party. Thank you, Kate Maynard, for hosting such a wonderful evening at the Old Oak Inn, and to all those who came. Happy memories.
It’s always exciting to make it onto a bloggers’ best books list. Here’s the link to Veronika Jordan’s Cookie Biscuit site.https://cookiebiscuit.co.uk/2022/07/03/my-top-8-books-of-2022-part-two/
So good to finally hold the paperback. Cover looks great. Happy days!
Here I am showing off the cover of my latest book, Angel Town. It’s a literary thriller set in a doomsday cult in ’80s California in the months leading up to the prophesied apocalypse.
I was a teenager in the eighties and wanted to travel the world, but my mother wouldn’t allow it. She was convinced I would fall in love and join a cult. ‘It’s what girls did in those days,’ she is fond of telling me. She had a point, cults such as The People’s Temple, The Branch Davidians, The Children of God, and The Bagwan Shree Rajneesh, were grabbing global headlines at the time. But having read Philosophy at university, where my religious beliefs were actively drummed out of me, I was convinced I could never be taken in by the nonsense spouted by a superficially charming person and give up everything – family, wealth, possessions – to blindly follow. However, during my research I discovered that under the right conditions, plenty of sane, intelligent people do. No one, it seems, is immune …
I’ve just come to the end of a wonderful blog tour and wanted to share an excerpt of my favourite review as featured in Anne William’s wonderful blog, Being Anne.
A dual timeline, when well done, is always one of my favourites; a coming of age story sometimes rather less so. But this was a book that entirely enchanted me from its opening pages, whisked me away into the worlds it created, and never lessened its grip until I reached the very end …
The 1950s Soho backdrop is far, far more than that – the way it’s recreated is vivid and intoxicating, something you feel through all your senses, that excitement of living through a time of change, the music playing an enormous part, along with the melting pot of people and their shared experiences, with every individual (no matter how peripheral) so wonderfully three-dimensional and real. You also feel – in your bones – the unrelenting heat of the Sussex summer, the standpipes, the shrivelling flowerbeds, the lowering water level in the swimming pool, really intensifying that overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia as the secrets of the past slowly emerge.
The central mystery was everything I wanted it to be – the pages turning ever faster, the inevitable approach of that moment of truth that will have such far-reaching consequences. The writing and storytelling is simply superb – this isn’t a book you simply read, you live within it, experience everything with its characters, seeing everything through the eyes of young Martha and Natasha. In Natasha’s case, of course, that lens is sometimes distorted – but quite perfectly so. Emotionally, the book is quite perfectly balanced – plenty of lightness and joy to counteract the darker themes that sometimes emerge.
I really loved this book – I approached it with high expectations, and every single one of them was exceeded. Very much recommended – and it might just be one of my books of the year.
For the full review https://beinganne.com/2021/06/review-a-song-unsung-by-fiona-cane-fibee49-randomttours-blogtour-new-release-asongunsung/
I’m currently in the middle of a blog tour which you can follow on Twitter. To date A Song Unsung has been awarded a succession of five star and four stars reviews. I felt compelled to share this particular review by Anne Cater, the critically acclaimed reviewer and author of the blog, Random Things Through My Letterbox. I am absolutely thrilled she enjoyed it.
‘I do love a story told in a dual time frame, so when I read the blurb for A Song Unsung, I knew this one was a book for me.
Happily, I was right. I’ve been totally engrossed by both Martha in the late 1950s and Natasha in 1976. Both characters are cleverly crafted, with their flaws exposed just as much as their redeeming qualities. I love characters who are well rounded, who a reader can identify with and therefore empathise with.
We meet Martha in Soho, it’s 1958 and she’s left home with little money, but big dreams. Martha loves to sing and is determined that she will make her name among the bright lights of London. However, for a naive, innocent girl, London brings more than glitter and fun and she finds herself in a predicament that is difficult to get out of. Despite her fears, this experience becomes a positive and the author wonderfully describes Martha’s rise amongst the jazz clubs in the capital.
Fast forward to 1976 and Natasha is fed up. She’s lonely and has little to do. When a beautiful and vibrant woman moves into the area, Natasha becomes obsessed and before long she’s determined to know everything about the woman; Martha, and especially how her father seems to know her so well.
This is a beautifully written novel that I enjoyed so much. I was impressed by the depiction of the two different areas, and eras, finding myself humming a little jazz tune as I was reading!
A thoughtful and richly described story. I would recommend this one.’ Anne Cater Random Things Through My Letterbox
A seaside town. A teenage rebel. A web of lies.
I’ve given The Gate a fabulous facelift, slimmed it down, and re-published it as the cosy mystery, A Push Too Far. It’s a gripping coming-of-age story, pushy parents, teenage angst, and an emotionally affecting account of grief and family, as a career mother tries to reconnect with her sweet-child-turned-rebel daughter.
Available in ebook and paperback at Amazon.