Author Archives: Jane Cable

EVA GLYN ON THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE OLIVE GROVE

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Sometimes an idea for a book creeps into your heart and stays there. That was how The Olive Grove started for me, with a story told by our tour guide when we were on holiday in Croatia.

We were on a small-boat cruise that began in Dubrovnik and after visiting the main islands off the Dalmatian coast and some interesting places on the mainland, ended up in Trogir. And when we were on board travelling there were talks we could listen to and to make our experience complete we wanted to lap up every one.

The war in Yugoslavia was perhaps not a particularly enticing topic when the alternative was to sit on deck, watching the glistening sea ripple alongside the boat while soaking up some sun, but I remembered hearing about the war on the news at the time and was keen to know more. And then, somewhere between the dates, whys and wherefores, our guide Darko began to tell an incredible story. His own.

I suppose I had assumed Darko was Croatian, but he is in fact Bosnian and grew up in Mostar, one of the towns that was to be worst hit by the fighting. His father was a soldier in the Yugoslav army, but when everything fractured and splintered he followed his ethnicity and joined the Croatian side, having to leave his Serbian wife (and Serbia was now the enemy) at home with their sons.

I will never forget the silence in the room at the horror of what we were told. No electricity, no water, bombs raining down, queuing for food at the community organisation – life as we would all recognise it wiped out over the course of a few days in a war that would last for years. Darko’s life moved underground to the shelters, because they were the only safe place. And he was one of the lucky ones, because living in the army housing meant the shelters were purpose-built, deep and strong.

There were moments to awful to contemplate. Darko’s mother actually disappeared, as many people did during ethnic cleansing, but he was one of the few lucky ones because she actually came back. But there were moments of light too; finding a food parcel dropped by the UN and hoping it was one with chocolate inside.

These incidents and more form the kernel of The Olive Grove, but viewed through the prism of time by my proud Croatian character Damir. Orphaned during the war he was brought up by his aunt on the beautiful island of Korcula (which we visited during our trip); brought up to forget everything about his life before he came to the island. But when she dies, the past creeps back to find him.

While Darko wears his wartime past with relative ease (which is often the case when everyone around the child is having the same experiences, when the awfulness becomes a sort of normal), fictional Damir no longer can. And help comes from a surprising quarter. A middle aged English woman called Antonia who feels she has messed up her life so badly she takes a job on the island to take stock and to heal.

And that’s what The Olive Grove is really about. It’s about healing and friendship. Like Darko’s childhood memories there is sunshine and shade. And unlike them there is the most incredibly beautiful setting.

With Darko’s help over countless Zoom meetings during lockdown I have been able to create authentic Croatian characters and culture, so as well as the initial inspiration, there are many other reasons why The Olive Grove could not have been written without him. And what’s even better, we have become friends across the miles too.

CARIADS’ CHOICE: BANK HOLIDAY REVIEW SPECIAL

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Kitty Wilson’s Every Day in December, reviewed by Jane Cable

I always feel August is a little early to read a Christmas book, but so evocative were the descriptions of sledging on tin trays and making snow angels I actually felt cold!

Christmas, however, is just the backdrop to this heart-warming story and the characters are just wonderful. If I felt for Belle, and wanted to scream at her awful parents in anguish, I seriously fell in love with Rory; he too has heavy baggage to carry but it doesn’t follow him around like a thundercloud and you know from the start he is still capable of love and lightness.

Being Kitty Wilson, this is a funny book and will make you laugh out loud… Chardonnay and her pilot… Belle’s unusual ally when she has to play Christmas fairy… all beautifully crafted moments. But the love story takes centre stage; believable, real and flawed. I absolutely loved it.

 

Natalie Normann’s Summer Island, reviewed by Jessie Cahalin

A gorgeous, joyful novel that made me want to ‘enjoy the silence and the wind – the smell of the {Nordic} island and take a deep breath.’ Perfect.

‘There’s more to life than a broken heart’, declares Ninni. At the end of a relationship with a pilot, she escapes to the family holiday home on a Norwegian island. Of her former lover, she mused, ‘if he were here, she would simply push him into the sea.’ And when you get to know Ninni, you really believe this would be possible.

There are sparks between Jack, the Englishman and Ninni, but you need to read to find out more. It was so much fun to experience Jack’s perspective as he learnt the Norwegian way of life on the island and dealt with the close knit, nosy community.

Gentle humour bubbles throughout the novel and it is a perfect escape.

 

Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became The Sun, reviewed by Kitty Wilson

This story was a reimagining of the rise of a young girl from a famine-stricken village in Fourteenth Century China; described as a cross between Mulan and the Song Of Achilles, it certainly lives up to this high praise. It is a truly epic tale, filled with love, loss, and betrayal and I absolutely loved it. We see Zhu rise from almost certain death as she decides to take on the fate ascribed to her brother and escapes her village to a nearby monastery by hiding the gender assigned to her at birth and training to become a monk. The story follows her life as she moves from monk to warrior, using her keen intelligence to rise to prominence. The world building is intricate and beautifully done, the characters are flawed and real and the story itself is utterly absorbing. It manages to combine tender moments with brutal ones and weaves themes of war, love, duty and identity throughout.

 

Anna and Jacqui Burns’ Love at Cafe Lompar, reviewed by Jill Barry

This debut novel written from individual viewpoints, by mother and daughter team Jacqui and Anna, is a total delight. Coming to terms with the death of a husband and father is difficult in itself. But when Dan Lompar’s widow unlocks Pandora’s Box, the lives of family members are changed for ever. Reading the novel’s sparkling descriptions of both scenery and local food delicacies left me feeling I wanted to hop on the next flight to Dubrovnik. But it’s the characters who held me most of all. And the fallout from what must have been an intensely difficult secret to keep for many years. Whether the action takes place in and around Bath or the Bay of Kotor, the emotional impact is huge, especially as Grace and Kat learn more about beautiful, dignified Croatia. They find their attitudes changing as they follow in Dan’s footsteps and embrace the changing patterns of family life.

 

 

 

 

 

WELSH WRITING WEDNESDAYS: JAN BAYNHAM ON CONTEMPORARY NOVELIST CAROL LOVEKIN

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I first met author, Carol Lovekin at Tenby Book Fair in 2015. We’d been following each other on Twitter and it was so good to meet in person. It was just six months before her wonderful debut novel, Ghostbird, was published by Honno, the Welsh Women’s Press. A feminist writer based in west Wales, Carol writes contemporary fiction exploring family relationships and secrets, but for me it’s the fact that her writing is interwoven with myth, fairytale, ghosts, and mystery that makes her novels so special.

‘My stories touch on the Welsh Gothic & its most powerful motif: the ghost. They concern the nature of magic & how it threads through the fabric of our lives. I explore possibilities: the fine line between the everyday & the time-shifting world of enchantment. My books are also firmly rooted in reality. I write about family relationships: how people, women in particular, respond to loss & how they survive. I set my stories in Wales, where I’ve lived for several decades: a place whose legends & landscapes inform my writing.’

Carol’s own words sum up the very essence of her writing. When reading her novels, there is no doubt as to where they are set and she takes you into the innermost thoughts of her characters. I love the poetic nature of the prose and its figurative language that does not in any way detract from the plot and pace of the novels.

Carol’s next novel will be published by Honno in 2022. Entitled Only May, she describes it as her ‘lockdown novel’ when she said writing kept her sane. ‘With no distractions, I listened for the word birds, cracked on and wrote it.’ It’s written in the first person present and involves a girl who could tell when people lied to her. If, when they looked her directly in the eye and told lies, she knew.

‘I’m the girl who sees beyond the glint in your eye, around your over-confidence and through to the truth and I can hear the earth hum, the way the bees do. Ever since I was a tiny baby and they started talking to me, it’s seemed rude not to take notice.
Bees don’t lie.’

 

Published works:

Ghostbird (2016)

Described as ‘Charming, quirky, magical’ ~ Joanne Harris, the book was chosen as Waterstones Wales and Welsh Independent Bookshops ‘Book Of The Month’ for April 2016. It was longlisted for the Guardian ‘Not the Booker’ prize 2016 and nominated for the Guardian Readers’ Book of the Year 2016.

Snowsisters (2017)

Author, Louise Beech, said of this novel, ‘Lovekin’s words soar like the birds, who see everything’. It was selected by Books Council of Wales as their October 2017 Book of the Month.

Wild Spinning Girls (2020)

‘A timeless tale of grief and belonging… haunting and hopeful.’ ~ Mags Phelan Stones. This third novel was selected as Books Council of Wales Book Of The Month for March 2020 and was shortlisted for Literature Wales Book of the Year/ Rhys Davies Fiction Award 2021. This was a huge accolade for not only for Carol and her fellow Honno author, Judith Barrow who was also shortlisted alongside her but for Honno itself. Congratulations!

 

 

 

 

 

 

WELSH WRITING WEDNESDAYS: JANE CABLE ON HER FATHER POET, MERCER SIMPSON

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As I have written in Frost before, my formative years were spent in and around the vibrant Anglo-Welsh poetry scene. Writers such as Tony Curtis, Dannie Abse and Gillian Clarke were taking over the mantle from the Dylan Thomas generation and my father Mercer Simpson was in the thick of it.

First as an expert on the genre – he wrote the section on it in The Bloomsbury Guide to Literature – and a reviewer. Then as poet himself. Except he wasn’t Welsh by birth – he was English, although in the end he lived in Cardiff for the last 55 years of his life. His first – and last – collections were through Rockingham Press in East Anglia, but I think the one of which he was always most proud was Rain From a Clear Blue Sky which was published by Gomer with the help of Welsh Arts Council funding.

Having a poet as a father gives a unique insight into their lives. This is not to say all poetry is autobiographical – it’s certainly not – but my father was very clear that some of his were and there is a section in Rain From a Clear Blue Sky that deals with childhood memories. All this was easy to accept as my father’s past, but when the present reared its head, it could be harder. Or simply incredibly beautiful, like these lines about a rose bush that stood in my parents’ garden.

Fruhlingsgold
shakes her
curling-papered head,
the wind’s
premature blow-drier
scattering news
of dispersed beauty,
the white petals
leaving the golden heart
on each stem…

But there were certainly times when the insights seemed far too close to home and I still find parts of his last two collections difficult. Not just because I helped him to correct the proofs of the last one when he was in a nursing home, dying. It wasn’t a bad time – apart from the obvious – we became even closer over those galleys – and we were able to discuss what was going to happen surprisingly easily.

Six months before the Welsh Academy had put on an eightieth birthday reception for him in the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay. For him it was the pinnacle of his acceptance as an Anglo-Welsh poet and I will never forget how much it meant to him. I was more than proud to be at his side as we listened to Tony Curtis, Ruth Bidgood and others read from their own work and celebrate my father’s. And he read himself – of course he did – he had been a lecturer, had even taught public speaking, so he was a consummate performer.

There was a humour in his work, even in the most serious of subjects, particularly in Honest to God, a poem he read that night and I read at his funeral. And pathos too. As the child of a poet, there are times you get to look inside your parent’s soul.

Dear God
I hope I’ve got your correct address:
with so much mail going astray these days I wouldn’t want this letter
to get lost in the post.

I hope you don’t mind me leaving the writing of it rather late
but I felt I had to thank you for letting me stay in your house for so long.
I know I haven’t been the easiest of guests,
stealing your son’s bread and helping myself to his wine…

…Now that my time is nearly over
I insist on having the last word which must be gratitude:
gratitude for the miracle of your world that I, who might have died at birth,
was spared to live in…

…So please forgive me if I seem impertinent
in asking if I may come back and visit you again some time?

 

 

 

THE DIARY OF A BOOK, JULY 2021

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At the end of June Jane Cable was poised to start writing The Lost Heir. Did it happen? Not a bit of it…

There were several reasons for my lack of progress, most of which I can share. We had a week or so’s holiday planned early in the month, and publication of The Missing Pieces of Us, my first title writing as Eva Glyn, was scheduled for the 21st. What I wasn’t anticipating were the scale of the structural edits for The Olive Grove, Eva’s second book.

Let me explain a little about this process. As an author you submit a final draft manuscript to the publisher, and your editor reviews it with the objective of making it better. My editor at Sapere Books does most of the work for me, so basically my input is to read, negotiate, and perhaps add a few extra tweaks. Eva is signed to a bigger publishing house (0ne More Chapter is a division of Harper Collins) and the system is entirely different.

So I received an editorial letter telling me in some detail what they would like me to do to improve the book. At this point people often ask questions along the lines of ‘don’t you mind?’. Of course I don’t mind – it is absolutely fantastic to have detailed feedback that will make the book a real joy for readers and a story that will stay with them long after they have finished it.

You lose perspective on your own book – or at least I do. Just before the submission deadline it seems common amongst authors to loath your manuscript, but even once you are over that you still need to accept that you probably can’t see the wood for the trees.

The problem was that I needed to juggle the edits not only with a full on holiday – a historical tour of Hadrian’s Wall – but also with our nephew coming to stay. This meant everything else had to be swept to one side, but my husband was magnificent, taking over all the domestic duties (he does most of them anyway as I am so useless!). And I suspect he enjoyed some ‘boy time’ with our nephew too.

So in the main I have spent a large chunk of July editing The Olive Grove and I absolutely know I have a better book, which I can’t wait for you to be able to read in September. And the last few days I’ve been running around like a headless chicken on social media, what with the launch of The Missing Pieces of Us, and The Forgotten Maid being on Netgalley ready for publication next month.

But I also had a holiday. We had intended to do a long distance walk but instead found ourselves drawn to a historical tour led by a university professor, where we would learn so much about the Romans who built and defended Hadrian’s Wall. It was a fascinating week when we went from one end of the wall to the other – and beyond it to outposts in the north. We visited all the famous sites; Vindolanda, Housesteads, and were shown around Birdoswald by Tony Wilmot, the archaeologist responsible for digging most of the fort over the years. It wasn’t only fabulous, but a break I needed to return refreshed and hit the ground running.

And as for The Lost Heir? This month I’m going to wise up and make no promises in that respect at all!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CARIADS’ CHOICE: JULY BOOK REVIEWS

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Josephine Tey’s Brat Farrar, reviewed by Evonne Wareham

A classic from 1949 by an acclaimed novelist and playwright, this is an impostor story loosely based on a Victorian cause célèbre – The Titchbourne Claimant. A long lost heir, presumed dead, emerges to inherit a fortune. It is made clear to the reader from the start that Brat is a fake, but Tey manages to sustain sympathy and support for him despite this. Alongside a portrayal of loneliness and the desire of an orphan to find a family and to belong, a slow burning mystery unfolds. What exactly did happen the night thirteen year old Patrick  Ashby disappeared, leaving an ambiguous suicide note? Who is Brat and what is his real relationship to the Ashby family? An unusual crime story, displaying attitudes of its time – including to horse training – which can jar, it is still an absorbing portrayal of a lost age and an intriguing crime that would no longer be possible with modern DNA techniques.

 

Isabelle Broom’s The Getaway, reviewed by Jane Cable

I was drawn to this book because it is set in Croatia, as my September release is, so I was very curious to read it. Plus lovely Isabelle sent my a copy.

This is such a good holiday read and the descriptions of the island of Hvar are mouth-watering. At the beginning of the book Kate crashes and burns in the most public fashion, so decides to disappear to Croatia where her brother and his partner are about to open a hostel. The Getaway is about her recovery, and how she grows into an even stronger person in this beautiful place, surrounded by supportive people.

There is humour, there is romance and there is drama. But I won’t say any more because I would love you to read this gorgeous book for yourselves.

 

Mhairi McFarline’s Last Night, reviewed by Carol Thomas

I have greatly enjoyed each of Mhairi McFarlane’s previous novels and this was no exception. She has a fast-paced, economic style that makes for page-turning entertainment; no sentence is wasted as her astute talent for observation shines through. (Within the pages of her novels there are always sentences I wish I had said – or written – that sum up a moment, feeling or action perfectly!)

With relatable characters, struggling to cope in the wake of a loss, Last Night is emotional, witty and thought provoking. The story had me hooked, and the possible romance kept me guessing, even as I headed towards the final chapters and the very satisfying ending. With the theme of loss and mention of dementia this story is a little darker than McFarlane’s previous novels, but those aspects are grounded in reality and balanced perfectly with lighter moments. Last Night is a thoroughly enjoyable read.

 

Anita Shreve’s The Stars Are Fire, reviewed by Angela Petch

Set in the immediate post-war years, this is a fascinating glimpse into the life of an ordinary young mother of two young children trapped in a difficult marriage. In 1947, the woman’s place was in the home and the thought of years stretching endlessly ahead with a man mentally scarred, turned cruel by the war, is grim.

The title is beautiful, taken from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, summarising the story perfectly: “Doubt that the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth not move, Doubt truth to be a liar, But never doubt that I love.”

Aptly-named Grace is mostly accepting of her fate but when a fire ravages through her hometown, her husband, a volunteer fireman disappears and Grace’s life opens up.

Written in present tense, Grace and her plight feel very immediate. It’s a short book by usual standards, but perfectly formed and I am now a huge fan of this writer.

 

 

WELSH WRITING WEDNESDAYS: HELGA JENSEN ON WALES AS A SETTING FOR COMMERCIAL FICTION

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When I was planning my debut novel, Twice in a Lifetime, there was only one place for me to set it in. Having been brought up in West Wales, I was determined that any book I wrote would focus on some of the stunning areas around us. How you could possibly put those scenes into words was a completely different challenge! However, I knew that I wanted to promote Wales and see it featured in more commercial fiction. We have many women’s fiction books set in Cornwall or Ireland, so why not Wales?

When I first queried my book and sent it to agent’s I had a mixed response. Some loved the idea of a different setting, but one agent stated that perhaps Cardiff would be acceptable for my romantic comedy, but nothing further west. I was quite surprised at this. We often see Cornwall with its beautiful beaches, so why not West Wales with its similar beauty?

Whilst I was surprised at this observation, as always, when someone tells me something might not be possible, it makes me more determined. Therefore, I persevered and, although my book is also set in New York, I finally saw success with my romantic comedy that features the beautiful township of Laugharne.

After all, Laugharne is famous for many things, including the more recent television series, ‘Finding Faith,’ which has helped put it further on the map. But, of course, the association with Dylan Thomas is probably the most famous claim to fame that Laugharne has, so as Dylan spent his time in New York too, I felt a setting for a book with Laugharne and New York were the perfect marriage for my debut novel.

Since Twice in a Lifetime was released, I have had lovely messages telling me how refreshing it is to have a romantic comedy set in Wales. Naturally, I was thrilled at this feedback, as this is precisely what I set out to achieve.

I am now working on book two, which will have a combined setting of Wales and Denmark. It remains my ultimate goal to promote Wales in the world of women’s fiction. There are so many opportunities for the glorious parts to be shown to the world that I simply can’t help promote it through my books. Just as there are many prolific Irish writers, such as Maeve Binchy, with her incredible story, ‘Circle of Friends,’ I hope there will be similar best-selling commercial love stories and adventures coming out of Wales.

Trends are certainly changing, and more and more books are getting published in the mainstream from the region, but I would still like to see Wales in more romantic comedies. We have ubiquitous books traditionally set in mining villages or used in historical fiction, so I would now like to see it featured as a setting in comedies and romance. After all, welsh men can be funny and romantic when they want to be!

So, there might be many tales of Wales in books on folklore, myth and magic and eras gone by, but here’s hoping for a future filled with books set in Wales for romantic comedies and similar commercial women’s fiction.

 

 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/HelgaJensenF

 

 

 

 

THE QUEEN’S SPY – CLARE MARCHANT’S SUPERBLY CRAFTED DUAL TIMELINE NOVEL

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Review by Jane Cable and a word from the author…

In her acknowledgements Clare Marchant describes The Queen’s Spy as ‘the difficult second novel’ – or words to that effect. Well she didn’t make it easy for herself, with an Elizabethan main character who is deaf and dumb and a modern day protagonist who is far from instantly likeable.

One of the triumphs of this book is how well the author pulls off both characters. We experience the Elizabethan world through Tom’s eyes, nose, hands… but not his ears. And despite this, it is a rich world indeed, brought vividly to life through the wonderful descriptive language. Despite the danger, intrigue and prejudice it was a world I wanted to return to again and again, which certainly kept me turning the pages.

Like all good dual timeline stories the links between present and past mirror each other well; both protagonists are outsiders, both gifted artistically and with herbs. There are other linking factors too, but to reveal them might spoil the story and I would hate to do that, because it is a book I would definitely recommend you read.

 

So fascinated was I by Tom’s story that I just had to ask Clare about him:

Over the course of my two books the character who has been my favourite is Tom. I always plan my work in great detail so I don’t have any shocks, and yet Tom arrived one day in the still room at Saffron Hall and took me completely by surprise. I’ve loved him from the first moment he appeared. At first he had no way of communicating but slowly he came out of his shell and as he did so, became more confident.

So, it was a no-brainer that Tom would be the main protagonist in my second book, The Queen’s Spy. He’s able to use his disability in a positive way spying for Elizabeth 1st but I won’t lie, it wasn’t easy writing a book where I had to tell his story through the other senses he had; sight, smell and taste. However I think it’s interesting to experience Tudor London as he would have done. With the heightened senses he has it meant the smells (quite often unpleasant!) would have been that much more pungent. And his intensified senses of smell and taste helps him as an apothecary, able to differentiate between and identify many varieties of herbs. I enjoyed him introducing vanilla to the court (in reality it was Hugh Morgan who was Queen Elizabeth’s apothecary) but it was a long time before horticulturalists knew the plants have to be pollenated by hand in the UK.

The fact he has this disability has always left Tom feeling it’s a weakness, a disadvantage, but it takes Francis Walsingham to recognise that Tom’s lip reading can be used as a skill and as the story develops, Tom’s self-confidence grows. For the first time in his life he feels properly valued and this just makes me love him move!

 

Publisher’s blurb:
1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots will stop at nothing to take her cousin’s throne.

There’s only one thing standing in her way: Tom, the queen’s trusted apothecary, who makes the perfect silent spy…

2021: Travelling the globe in her campervan, Mathilde has never belonged anywhere. So when she receives news of an inheritance, she is shocked to discover she has a family in England.

Just like Mathilde, the medieval hall she inherits conceals secrets, and she quickly makes a haunting discovery. Can she unravel the truth about what happened there all those years ago? And will she finally find a place to call home?