HOLIDAY NEWS, REVIEWS and RELAXATION

By now you should be winding down for a relaxing weekend with friends and family. Maybe you're lucky enough to be extending your holiday by going somewhere warm and tropical. A cruise, perhaps or a stay in an exotic resort. Whatever you choose I hope you have time to sit back, relax drink some egg nog and READ a good book!! That's why today's post is longer because I'm recommending some great books I've read this year. I'm also going to mention some amazing poems to listen to as well as music I've been using while working on my latest novel. 

THE NIGHT SIDE LAUNCH NEWS

I had a lovely launch party with family and friends who've also been loyal fans. If you missed any of my podcast appearances, you can still see them at THE THRILLER ZONE and the POISONED PEN BOOKSTORE. You can also check out my article in Crimereads entitled Mystic Threads, Spirit Mediums and Psychics in Crime Fiction. Don't forget to comment or leave a thumbs up! 

Also, the best gift (gifts) you can give an author are reviews on Goodreads or Amazon or whatever platform you read the book on, as well as requesting your local library to acquire the book or a set for book clubs. Any member can make that request. I'm always available for virtual or in-person book club appearances. Check out my website for details: https://www.marjoriedeluca.com/

Re: the Holiday Launch Giveaway, four lucky winners (in B.C, Manitoba, Arizona and California) received Kindle copies or hardcovers already. Sorry I couldn't send something to everyone who entered, but I will have more giveaways in 2024.

And now, the book recommendations!!

MEXICAN GOTHIC by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia

“There’re people and there’re voices. I see them sometimes, the people in the walls. They’re dead.”

This chilling, feminist thriller by the brilliant Silvia Moreno-Garcia plays cleverly with all the tropes of a Gothic domestic-noir: a decaying and apparently haunted Victorian mansion in a post-colonial burned-out mining town, exploited for years by English silver barons, a plucky heroine who comes to rescue her ailing cousin, held captive by her oppressive husband, and finally, a dark and terrifying secret just waiting to be uncovered.
Noemí, the main protagonist is an unlikely heroine. She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and vivid red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s tough, smart and brave, with an indomitable will. She isn't scared of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the decaying patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom (and weird mushrooms!).
Her only ally turns out to be the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. 

In its review, the Washington Post rightly calls this “a creepy, intoxicating mystery that’s almost impossible to put down,” but it’s also a chilling indictment of the real-life horrors of eugenics, racism and the plunderous practices of colonialism.

I was lucky enough to see this brilliant author interviewed at the Vancouver Writers' Fest this year. She's such an entertaining speaker and a diehard fan of classic noir movies. 

CALICO by Lee Goldberg

This was such a refreshing read. Successfully marrying a crime thriller with sci-fi and time travel is no easy feat and bestselling thriller writer, Lee Goldberg carries it off wonderfully. Loved the period detail in the historical sections and thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns and many surprises of the fast-moving plot which features a flawed and truly likeable female cop as the protagonist. It's also set in the dusty desert town of Barstow, California, which I've passed through many times on the road from L.A to Las Vegas. Goldberg makes this unlikely setting really come to life. A great read.

DIRECTIONS FOR DARK THINGS by Stephanie Sowden

This story about an aging heiress living alone in the Hollywood Hills and the desperate real estate agent who tries to help her unlikeable boyfriend by unearthing something secret and very important from the crumbling mansion, really drew me in and kept me interested throughout. The dual timeline story tells of Audrey, the heiress's tragic and dysfunctional family during the early golden age of pre-WW2 moviemaking. 

Sowden takes an interesting and possibly little known historical event of a fascist plot to 'take over' the Hollywood movie industry, and pave the way for the Germans to march into California, and weaves a twisty story around it.
The well-paced story and great sense of atmosphere, as well as the intriguing character of Audrey, made this a compelling read.

THE MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose

At first I was a little sceptical that Nita Prose could recapture the quirky appeal of Molly the maid at the Regency Grand,  who readers first met in her breakout debut, The Maid, but after a few pages, I was soon drawn back into her world. The novel acquires more depth with the parallel development of Molly's back story covering her childhood when her beloved Gran looked after her due to the absence of Molly's mother who remains a shadowy figure, but makes a tantalizing and brief appearance midway through. 
The story centers around the possible poisoning death of renowned crime author, J.D. Grimthorpe, who we discover has ties with both Molly and her Gran. The author deftly weaves this storyline around the quest to unmask the culprit, led by Detective Stark, Molly's nemesis in the first book. Surprisingly, she soon turns to Molly, a stickler for the smallest detail, for help in solving the crime. 
This book was basically a cozy mystery, which is not my favourite genre because of the overly simplistic police procedures and slight unbelievability of Molly's part in solving the crime, but fans of the genre will find this an entertaining and satisfying read and undoubtedly look forward to the next instalment in the series.

PROPHET SONG by Paul Lynch

 I'm a huge fan of dystopian novels. I started out my writing career in that genre and Prophet Song, this year's Booker Prizewinner, ranks up there with classics like Atwood's The Handmaiden's Tale, sharing many parallels like a strong, heroic woman as the main character and the fact that every horrific and unimaginable incident portrayed in the story is happening somewhere in the world today. An important novel for our times, the story jogs us us out of our complacency, despite the fact we've become desensitized towards the horrors that brutal political regimes can unleash on a country. We're accustomed to watching the devastation of war and the resulting societal collapse, on TV from the safety of our living rooms. We witness the agonies of streams of displaced men, women and children driven from their homes, and risking their lives to reach safety, and we believe it can never happen to us. Reading this book sends us hurtling into the nightmarish chaos of a country—in this case, Ireland—that is suddenly and without warning, overtaken by a fascist totalitarian regime. Lynch portrays an ordinary middle-class family caught up in the complete disintegration of life as they know it. Eilish, a microbiologist, is a mother of four whose husband, Larry, a teachers' union member, is one of the first to"disappear" leaving Eilish as the sole protector of her children and her aging father. The unrelenting , barely punctuated chunks of prose give the novel a breathless sense of events spiralling out of control in this story of a mother’s desperation to save her family and children from destruction when all human rights have been completely eroded. Lynch reminds us that this living nightmare is happening right now in some parts of the world, but could easily become a reality for anyone, anywhere. Even those of us living in the more affluent west. It's an astonishing novel and a deserving winner of the Booker Prize.

POEMS

Usually when I sit down to work I take some time to listen to poetry on YouTube. That usually fires me up to keep working. You might like to listen to some as well. Some poems I've used in the past include:

A LETTER TO REMIND MYSELF WHO I AM by the brilliant Shane Koyczan. Listen here.

THE RABBIT CATCHER by Sylvia Plath, read by Sylvia Plath. Listen to it here

STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou. Can't resist this one! Listen here.

RHAPSODY ON A WINDY NIGHT by T.S Eliot, read by Jeremy Irons. Listen here

NIGHT POEM by Margaret Atwood, read by Margaret Atwood. Listen here

MUSIC

Sometimes I listen to music. I'm writing a new crime thriller set around the music business that involves iconic older (fictitious) artists, so I've been listening to a wide variety of music from different eras and genres. Here's selection for you to check out:

EVEN FLOW by Pearl Jam. Check out a dynamic Eddie Vedder, grunger extraordinaire here

GLORIA by the iconic queen of punk, Patti Smith. Listen here.

ANGEL OF MERCY by king of the blues guitar, Joe Bonamassa here

THE LAST THING YOU SHOULD DO by two of my faves David Bowie and Robert Smith right here

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU by the incredible Ledisi  right here

YOU BRING ME JOY by a radiant Yolanda Adams right here

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME by the amazing Luther Vandross here

GIMME SHELTER by The Rolling Stones and the mind-blowing Lisa Fischer here

Happy Reading AND listening!!

Happy Holidays

BOOK LAUNCH NEWS

After an exciting week leading up to book launch day for THE NIGHT SIDE, I just wanted to send you a quick update to let you know about a special HOLIDAY LAUNCH GIVEAWAY to celebrate the book's publication. It's easy to enter. Here are the details:

• go to my website at https://www.marjoriedeluca.com/ and you'll find the entry form. Fill it in and click SUBMIT, and you'll be entered to win one of the following prizes:

- one of TWO signed hardback copies of THE NIGHT SIDE (Canada and US entrants only)

- one of TWO Kindle e-books (US entrants only).

If you're on Twitter, you can win an extra SURPRISE gift by following me, retweeting and tagging my giveaway post, or if you're on Instagram, look out for my giveaway posts, follow me, Like the post and tag a friend in the Comments.

Winners will be notified by the 16th December.

I'll arrange something for all you UK readers out there in the near future.

Also I had a wonderful time chatting with Barbara Peters at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you're ever in Scottsdale, check out this terrific place. they sure do a whole lot to support authors and their readers.

You can watch the video of the podcast right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoiNLEwW7eg

Pre-launch party pic!!

Happy reading and happy holidays to you all! I'll be back in the New Year with some great book recommendations and other exciting book news!

LAUNCHING A NEW BOOK

 

LAUNCHING A NEW BOOK

Being a published fiction writer isn't just about writing what you, your agent and your publisher feel is a good, hopefully great novel. 

But first, just to be clear, as most would-be writers know, it takes a whole lot of agony, sweat, persistence and rejection to even write a book, sign with an agent who will then sell your book (best-case scenario) to a publisher, so I have to count myself as fortunate to have even reached that point. Most writers have to be incredibly patient, thick-skinned and absolutely determined to get there.

So, once your book is finally revised, edited, proofread etc. etc. there are a few more steps before publication day:

• an ARC (advance review copy) goes onto NetGalley, a site where professional reviewers, bloggers, librarians, journalists are able to request a copy in exchange for an honest review. Then begins the long wait, during which you find yourself checking the reviews and hoping the response will be positive. 
• Other ARCs go out to authors, trade publications like Booklist and Publishers' Weekly and various magazines and websites in the hopes they will review the book and include some quotable comments that can be used when publicizing it.
• Depending on your publisher, they may arrange appearances on podcasts, guest articles in newspapers/magazines, zines or your agent might do the same.
• Most of the rest is up to you, the author to use your social media platform to spread the word about your book on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter (X), and Facebook. Anything goes here: Book trailers, aesthetics reels that convey the flavour/atmosphere of your book, posts, stories, blog posts, book giveaways. Anything to get your book out there in the public eye. It's exhausting, but maybe it will pay off if you get enough buzz going!

I've discovered that readers/influencers/other authors are usually incredibly generous when it comes to helping get the word out and that's why one of an author's most important jobs is to build up a platform of loyal readers/ followers.

I'm happy to have been on one terrific podcast so far; The Thriller Zone with David Temple was a blast. You can check out the video by clicking here. 

I'm now going to be appearing on the Poisoned Pen Bookstore podcast on Friday December 1st at 5:30 p.m (MT). The links to view live or a recorded version are down below:

www.facebook.com/thepoisonedpenbookstore/videos/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTbRuLNmD8EhT4WrGGMVW-w

So after all this, we writers hope that readers will be interested enough to pick up our book and more importantly, enjoy the fruits of our labour. I love to hear from readers and I'm always willing to make real or virtual appearances at book clubs. It's fascinating to hear enthusiastic readers find meaning in your work. Check out my website at https://www.marjoriedeluca.com/ to find out more details about book clubs.

HAPPY READING!!

BOOK NEWS and REVIEWS

NEW BOOK COMING DECEMBER 2023!!

I'm so excited to tell you about my upcoming new novel from Severn House Publishers (a division of Canongate Books). It's called THE NIGHT SIDE and is coming out in hardback and and all major digital platforms on December 5th 2023. You can pre-order it now at Waterstones, Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon, Apple Books and Kobo. The Trade Paperback will follow in the late spring. Here's a synopsis: 

  TWENTY YEARS OF SECRETS. ONE DEADLY TRUTH 

 

When Ruby Carlson was eighteen, she ran away from her home in Stoneybrook, Montana, and vowed she'd never return. Never return to life under the control of her manipulative mother, Ida, a self-styled medium and psychic scammer who made a career out of ruining people's lives. Never return to the small town where enemies lurk at every turn. But now, twenty years later, Ruby is back. Her mother is missing, presumed dead, and Ruby reluctantly returns to a home filled with chilling memories to settle Ida's affairs. Did she really commit suicide by drowning, or is this another dark scheme? Ruby thought she knew everything about her mother, but finds herself unraveling a web of lies and secrets to reveal a story more twisted than anyone could have imagined . . .

Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts with more information about the inspiration behind the novel!

AUDIO BOOK NEWS

New audiobook versions of THE PERFECT FAMILY MAN and THE SECRET SISTER are now available on Amazon and the Audible store. I was so stoked to learn that THE PERFECT FAMILY MAN is narrated by the wonderful Helen Laser who also narrated the amazing smash hit, YELLOWFACE, July's Reese's Bookclub pick. I'll be reviewing it next blog post. Check the books out. They're amazing to hear on audio.

NEW COVER

Check out the new cover for my popular romantic suspense novel, LILAH, available on all Amazon platforms. This one really captures the snowy winter setting of Silver Narrows, North Dakota.

BOOK REVIEW

WHITE IVY by Susie Yang

 

Right from the get-go in Susie Yang’s twisty novel, we understand the protagonist, Ivy, is a morally ambivalent character trained by her immigrant grandmother at an early age to use her unassuming appearance for cover to steal items from second-hand shops and yard sales. Ivy continues this trend into her adolescence, blithely shoplifting anywhere and everywhere in order to acquire all the trappings necessary to be accepted into the ‘in-crowd’ at her exclusive private high school and, more importantly, attract the attention of her idol, ‘golden boy’, Gideon Speyer. 

Gideon becomes her perfect ideal of a man, but her darker side prefers loner and social outcast, Roux with whom she embarks on a torrid sexual relationship. When her hardworking parents discover her crimes, she’s sent back to China to ‘learn a life lesson’ but instead lands at her wealthy aunt’s home and continues to enjoy the excesses of materialism and learn everything she can about good taste and shopping. A short stay with the ‘poorer’ side of her parents’ family only confirms her determination to enjoy ‘the good life’ and become part of what she perceives as society’s ‘upper, privileged echelons’.

Interestingly, Ivy doesn’t conform to stereotype or to her parents' expectations, with her unspectacular college career that lands her a job as an elementary school teacher. But when she runs into Gideon’s sister and re-establishes contact it seems her plan to insert herself into his ‘privileged existence’ is back on track again as she pretends to prepare for law school entrance and continue a relationship with Gideon. Too bad it’s threatened by an unwelcome ghost from her past.

Ivy is an incredibly complex character. Vulnerable one minute, ruthless the next. Yang captures her internal struggle as she attempts to negotiate a society that values white privilege and all the trapping of their perceived socio-economic superiority, yet somehow causes her to devalue the financial success of her hardworking parents who turn out to be much more business-savvy and financially stable than their white counterparts.

What follows is a chain of unexpected events and a totally unpredictable ending where Ivy realizes she’s not so different from her mother in that she’s prepared to do anything to achieve her dream. Written in gorgeous razor-sharp prose, this is a remarkably subversive debut that introduces one of the most complex but compelling characters in recent fiction and cleverly shines a light on the alienation and forced ‘otherness’ of the immigrant experience.

BOOK REVIEW: EVERGREENS by Liam Brown

EVERGREENS by Liame Brown This fast-paced page-turner by Liame Brown poses the age-old question, Who Wants to Live Forever? The answer, it seems, is not as straightforward as we might think, particularly when the two people in a romantic relationship hold diametrically opposite viewpoints on the issue. The story is told from two points of view and spans a period of sixty-five years. We first meet Sophie and Ben in the year 2070 as elderly Sophie watches a youthful Ben as he lies in his hospital bed, aging in front of her eyes. Rewind back to 2005 when Ben and Sophie meet for the first time as carefree nineteen year old backpackers traveling during their gap year. Ben comes from a troubled, more deprived childhood while Sophie's life has been one of comfort and privilege, which Ben finds somewhat intimidating. So begins their on-again, off-again relationship which takes many twists and turns through the years, the most significant one being when Ben signs up for the Evergreens Project which guarantees that the clients will not age physically and will stay twenty-one forever. the problem is that Ben lacks motivation and becomes stuck in a rut with all the time in the world to figure out what he wants to do and if he even wants to do it.

The novel is a fascinating exploration of what might happen to a person facing a life that could go on forever. Suddenly priorities change, and relationships become risky when you know you'll outlive all your friends and you'll do it as someone who stays permanently young. The same goes for intimate relationships which might work, but only for a limited length of time before the differences between you and your aging partner become too great. Then there's the conflict between your youthful body and your aging mind and character. You might have the body of a twenty-one year old, but your experience and attitude towards life will be that of a fifty-year-old, which poses all kinds of challenges in terms of how you want to spend your time. Liame Brown explores these questions and more through the lens of Ben and Sophie's relationship. Only later does he widen his scope and begin to consider the societal effects that age-reversal technology might have on society. I'd like to have seen more of this during the novel, but perhaps narrowing the scope is a more realistic way to deal with such a massive question. Overall this was an enjoyable read with an intriguing premise. Thanks to Legend Press for sending me an early copy to review.

BOOK NEWS AND SPRING TRAVELS!!

BOOK DEAL NEWS: I'm delighted to tell you about my latest book deal with Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books

This new suspense novel, will be published in early December of this year, and I hope to have a cover reveal and more info by the time my next blog comes out. I'm also excited to tell you that an audio version of my bestselling novel, THE PERFECT FAMILY MAN, will be available on July 18th, 2023 and can be pre-ordered here.

SPRING TRAVELS

This year I escaped the final chapter of one of our longest winter seasons yet, by traveling south to Arizona. We stayed in the beautiful suburb of Fountain Hills and spent a couple of weeks golfing, swimming and walking. As usual I took a whole lot of pictures to store in my "possible locations for a novel" folder and filled a notebook with observations, descriptions, potential characters,intriguing scenarios and story ideas.

It's true that fiction writing is a twenty-four-seven obsession. As a writer, you're always on the lookout for the quirky side of humanity. Constantly watching to see how people interact and always collecting sensory details that will help you develop a rich and plausible setting for a future novel. Since we made the journey by car, I was able to experience many different types of landscape from the endless, flat prairies of Manitoba and North Dakota to the hills and canyons of South Dakota, to the wild, undulating hills of Nebraska, to the spectacular foothills of the Colorado Rockies, to the intense desertlike vistas of New Mexico, and finally to the red-rock mountain splendor of Arizona. We returned home to a virtually snowless Winnipeg. Mission accomplished!

In this blog I've chosen to review sci-fi works with feminist themes, starting with CAMP ZERO by Michelle Min Sterling: This thought-provoking and intriguing read had me hooked from the beginning, with its portrayal of a world utterly changed by rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions. As a result, the greedy powerbrokers and plunderers of earth's riches turn their sights to Canada's northern regions—the only place in North America where cold temperatures make life bearable and fresh water, ice and snow actually exist. Also the only place still hiding precious mineral reserves under the permafrost. The story follows Rose, a paid escort/prostitute who travels north from The Floating City (in Boston Harbour), to a bleak camp in Northern Alberta's old oil patch where a reclusive architect is supposedly building an idyllic campus dedicated to finding ways to live in harmony with nature. Rose's new life is reminiscent of The Handmaiden's Tale in that she's there simply to "service" the project's management who subscribe to a strongly patriarchal version of life. Another story strand follows Grant, an idealistic young academic, eager to escape his power-magnate father and forge his own future path. But the most fascinating story is of "White Alice" an all-female research group of scientists sent to the far north to monitor climate change. Instead they gradually discover the real reason why they've been sent there. The author paints a plausible and chilling vision of a future world , and poses the question that even when earth's resources are dwindling and we are on the brink of potential disaster, how far will power-hungry men go to continue to amass personal wealth when the consequences might be the destruction of humanity and how can women band together and work in harmony to prevent them? Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and Knopf Canada for providing an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

SERIES REVIEW: THE POWER (Amazon Prime)Based on the brilliant bestselling novel by Naomi Alderman, this series truly brings the book to life thanks to a brilliant script by Alderman, Sarah Quintrell and Raelle Tucket and a stellar cast of Toni Collette (Margot), John Leguizamo (Rob),Ria Zmitrovicz (Roxy),Halle Bush (Eve), Toheeb Jimoh (Tunde) among numerous others. The main premise of the story poses an intriguing question—what happens when women develop a mysterious power to elecrocute at will? The answer being a complete reversal of the global power balance. Tables are turned when men are forced to realize that mere physical strength is no match for women's newly discovered ability to generate deadly electric force. Some male characters embrace the opportunity to forge a new future in which men and women work together as equals, while others see it as an unwelcome subversion of nature's natural order that must be curtailed by any method possible. The result is a thrilling and action-packed series driven by unforgettable characters. I highly recommend!!

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

With International Women's day falling on March 8th, I'm featuring notable books I've read recently, written by women and focusing on women's issues, while fearlessly pushing the boundaries of fiction. ON THE SAVAGE SIDE by Tiffany McDaniel

This was an incredibly brutal yet beautiful novel. Not for the faint of heart, it tackles addiction, parental neglect, child abuse, child sexual abuse, prostitution, police brutality, male brutality and the never-ending cycle of poverty and addiction,, and it achieves all this without being gratuitous, sentimental or judgmental. McDaniel gives humanity to the women struggling with the savagery of life in a dying Ohio town. The novel was inspired by the unsolved murders of The Chillicothe Six; six women--mothers, daughters, sisters--who went missing. When the first is found floating dead in the river, and more bodies follow, some disturbing truths about the people in this small Ohio town are revealed. This harrowing and haunting novel tells the story of twin sisters, Arc and Daffodil, who can't escape the generational cycle of prostitution and addiction and who could both be the next victims of the River Man, an elusive killer. This novel digs deep into its main characters, tracing the course of their lives right from childhood when they still believed, with the help of their incredible grandmother, Mamma Milkweed, that "there are things that not even fire can destroy. And one of these things is the strength of a woman". Also that the savage side of life can always be mended and made beautiful.The author's brilliance shines in her ability to use poetic and lyrical language to create the kind of magic rarely seen in such portrayals of the darker side of life. TIFFANY MCDANIEL is an Ohio native whose writing is inspired by the rolling hills and woods of the land she knows. Drawing from her Cherokee heritage, she is a poet, a novelist, and a visual artist.

ON HOME by Becca Spence Dobias

This beautifully written debut novel is a sensitive and insightful portrait of three generations of women struggling with sexuality, relationships and belonging. Grandma Jane's story begins post-WW2 as she leaves her small town in West Virginia to go and work in the big city - Washington D.C where men in uniform seem to prey on young, impressionable women. Paloma, Jane's daughter-in-law, meets her husband, Ken in Prague while she's teaching at a university there. Cassidy, Paloma's daughter, left West Virginia behind and is a cam girl in Southern California. When her father, Ken is killed in an accident, she comes home intending only to stay for the funeral, but fate takes a turn . The setting of small town, West Virginia is a major factor in this novel. Jane sees it as a place of safety while Paloma, who at first viewed it as a good place to raise a family, feels suffocated and longs for the liberated lifestyle she left behind in Prague. Cassidy feels that returning to Buckannon is a sign of her continued failure in the eyes of her mother, and the interaction between the two is prickly and distant as they try to interact without the buffer of Cassidy's beloved father. The interaction between the three women and their attempts to come to terms with their life in the small town, and their place in the world as women, is skilfully and expertly portrayed by Dobias who weaves a well-paced, compelling story that deals with many deeply human themes such as the fleeting nature of experience as well as the sanctuary of home and family, and the power of love. Becca Spence Dobias grew up in a small town in West Virginia and now lives in Southern California with her husband and two children. Her work has been published in two Writing Bloc anthologies, Inlandia: A Literary Journey, and the Inlandia Anthology, A Short Guide to Finding Your First Home in the United States. She misses West Virginia every day but playing banjo helps. On Home is her first novel.

WOMEN TALKING by Miriam Toews, WOMEN TALKING, the movie adapted and directed by Sarah Polley

Usually when one watches a movie adaptation of a novel, there's a feeling of disappointment that the images and ideas you conjured up in your head while reading, are far more engaging than the choices made by the screenwriter and director of the movie version. This is defintely not the case for WOMEN TALKING. Author Miriam Toews worked closely with director and screenwriter, Sarah Polley, collaborating every step of the way to create an unforgettable movie adaptation of Toews' bestselling novel. Adapting this exploration of the brutality of the patriarchy without becoming gratuitous is no mean feat, and Sarah Polley succeeds in capturing the horrific circumstances of these women without exploiting them. Based on a real case fron the early 2000's of a Mennonite sect living in an isolated community in Bolivia. Toews focuses on eight female members of the community who climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them for their sins. Now that the women have learned they were in fact drugged and attacked by a group of men from their own community, they are determined to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm. While the men of the colony are off in the city, attempting to raise enough money to bail out the rapists and bring them home, these women—all illiterate, without any knowledge of the world outside their community and unable even to speak the language of the country they live in—have very little time to make a choice: Should they stay in the only world they’ve ever known or should they dare to escape? Rather than focusing on the horror of the assaults, Toews concentrates on the struggle these women experience when trying to take back the power that has been systematically stripped from them. Both novel and movie emphasise the strength of the bonds between these women, and the undeniable fact that working together as women is the only way to challenge the rigid religious rules that have bound them for so long. The book and the movie eventually become a compelling examination of all patriarchy and the possibility that those who have been most brutally oppressed by it, can actually remove themselves from its influence. Miriam Toews is a Canadian writer of Mennonite descent. She grew up in Steinbach, Manitoba and has lived in Montreal and London, before settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Finally I can't let this International Women's day pass without spotlighting some incredibly powerful female artists that I've always admired: first off, LAURA NYRO

One of the greatest performers and songwriters of the 20th century, check out Nyro's incredible appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival For some inexplicable reason, her brave, impassioned performance of THE POVERTY TRAIN didn't make it to the final film version of the festival and lay on the cutting floor. Check it out here.

LISA FISCHER has been a favorite of mine since her early diso days when she won a Grammy for her hit, HOW CAN I EASE THE PAIN. Later she garnered praise for her work with The Rolling Stones when her incredible vocals transformed GIMME SHELTER into a rock and roll masterpiece. Check it out here. Lately she's branched out as a solo artist and also appeared together with the incredible singer LEDISI in some unforgettable performances. Check out this amazing collaboration with LEDISI,VULA MALINGA and SHARLENE HECTOR at The Royal Albert Hall when they perform FOUR WOMEN. Click here to enjoy.

BOOK NEWS..... I'll have some incredible news in my next blog about my new, upcoming book, so STAY TUNED to find out more about it, and when it will be coming out!! Can't wait to tell you.

HERE'S TO 2023!

It's always exciting to welcome in a new year even though that means cold, snowy winter weather here. It's even more exciting now that I have new agency representation from Trident Media Group and have completed two new novels. More news to come later about that! For now I've attached reviews of two novels I read recently. Both very different. Hope you enjoy!

WARLIGHT by Michael Ondaatje

Only Michael Ondaatje could pull off a novel like Warlight. Named after the twilight that shrouded London during World War 2 when all the streetlights were dimmed to avoid lighting the way for German bombers, the story itself seems to flicker in dreamlike fragments as the world awakes from the horrors of war. The world in this novel is post-war London, brilliantly captured in loving detail in Ondaatje's achingly beautiful prose. This is a battle-scarred and battered London where people who have worked covertly in the shadows, find themselves emerging into the changed world of the Cold War where actions taken during wartime must be answered for. The story begins when teens Rachel and Nathaniel's parents disappear, leaving them in the care of a mysterious guardian named The Moth and his enigmatic friend, The Darter. Over the next year a selection of strange, elusive characters pass through the house. They stay for a while, impart their wisdom, and leave. Rachel struggles with feelings of abandonment while Nathaniel, whose story this really is, finds school difficult to stick with as he's drawn to the fascinating world of The Darter who proves to be an unlikely mentor. The Darter is a barge rat who knows every inch of the River Thames. Nathaniel starts to accompany him on his trips to pick up illegal French greyhounds which are then taken back to the docklands to fuel the newly growing greyhound racing racket. The Darter also gets him a job in a restaurant where he meets and become romantically involved with Agnes. There is a mystery at the heart of the novel that results in a catastrophic end to the arrangement and comes to dominate Nathaniel's life even after he goes to work for the Foreign Office but it's clear that his parents' actions have a lasting impact on his life. This is a haunting story that stays with you long after the last page is turned. Perhaps because of its fragmentary structure where memories drift in and out, mirroring the nature of true human experience and life.

It's clear from the start of this page-turning novel that the main character, Nadine is on edge and burdened by secrets that have clouded her life for a very long time. The story unfolds over the course of one day as she prepares to host a sixtieth birthday party for her mother, a best-selling author. Right for the onset Nadine seems suspicious of other people's motives, a little paranoid and not a little unlikable as a person. But she's a fiercely protective mother to her two children Isobel, 16 and Damien, 14, both of who are struggling with their own personal crises. We already know from the prologue that someone at the party will be dead by the end of the night, so Stuart artfully builds up the tension, introducing characters who may have a motive to uncover some secrets Nadine would like to keep under wraps. Set in a small town somewhere in North America, the setting felt a little generic and lacking atmosphere, though the author does capture some of the drawbacks of small town life where all eyes are on you at all times. A well-written and interesting read.