When the herbalist appears out of nowhere and sets out his stall in the market square he brings excitement to Emily's dull midlands town. The teenager is enchanted - the glamorous visitor can be a Clark Gable to her Jean Harlow, a Fred to her Ginger, a man to make her forget her lowly status in this place where respectability is everything.
However, Emily has competition for the herbalist's attentions. The women of the town - the women from the big houses and their maids, the shopkeepers and their serving girls, those of easy virtue and their pious sisters - all seem mesmerised by this visitor who, they say, can perform miracles.
But when Emily discovers the dark side of the man who has infatuated her all summer, once again her world turns upside down. She may be a dreamer, but she has a fierce sense of right and wrong. And with the herbalist's fate lying in her hands she must make the biggest decision of her young life. To make him pay for his sins against the women of the town? Or let him escape to cast his spell on another town?
I've been lucky enough to have received several review copies of some thoroughly enjoyable novels written by Irish authors the past couple of months. Niamh Boyce's 'The Herbalist' was one of them, and with a first glance at the cover my interest had already been sparked. I love the girl in the red dress and the fabulous font of the title. I read somewhere that Niamh Boyce was named '2012 Hennessy XO New Irish Writer of the Year' and people had been anticipating her debut novel for quite some time. In other words, enough reason to start reading!
'The Herbalist' is set in a small town in 1930's rural Ireland, a town in which nothing out of the ordinary usually happens. Until a mysterious man named Don Vikram Fernandez comes to the village and sets up his market stall in the town square. With his special potions and creams, he quickly manages to spark the interest of all the women in the village. Most particularly, seventeen-year-old Emily who immediately falls for him. However, it doesn't take long before she realises the herbalist has managed to caught the attention from almost every single woman in town, and he might not be as friendly and fascinating as Emily thinks he is...
The different chapters of the novel focus on various female perspectives, which is something I really enjoyed. Next to teenager Emily who falls for the mysterious herbalist, there's Sarah, who is also a stranger in town and takes over Emily's job in one of the shops in the town owned by Carmel, another one of the female voices in the book. Next to that, there's also the beautiful rich doctor's daughter Rose, and strange townswoman Aggie, who sees and knows everything. Overall, I thought there was a great group of different female characters and I was intrigued by all of them, wanting to know what they were thinking and what would happen to them. I don't want to give too much away about the storyline, but life in a small town and the fact that you never know what goes on behind closed doors are fascinating themes that play a central role.
I personally thought the story started quite slowly, which is why it took me a bit of time to really get into it. However, it did give me the time to distinguish between the different narratives, and when I was taken in, I couldn't get out until the end. Niamh Boyce really managed to capture the mood perfectly, and the feeling of this novel haunted me for several days after having finished it. This is one of those books that somehow stays with you and unravels new details every single time you read it. 'The Herbalist' is an evocative and hauntingly well-written story, and a definite great read for any lovers of historical women's fiction.
Rating:
7,5/10
Anna and Laura, Sophie and Mandy - two mothers, two daughters and a story about the bond of motherly love.
Anna is proud of the job she has done raising eighteen-year-old Sophie. It's always been just the two of them, but that doesn't matter because Sophie has everything she could ever need.
It's a miracle that Laura's daughter Mandy is as happy as she is, considering that Laura remains haunted by the loss of her first child before Mandy was born.
Both women carry painful secrets and can never forget the day their paths crossed. But a chance discovery is about to bring everything into the open, and mothers and daughters, love and lies, past and future, will spectacularly collide...
During 2013 I’ve often come across the name of Irish author Sinead Moriarty. In August her latest novel ‘Mad About You’ was released, but I was contacted by the lovely people at Penguin Ireland about a review copy of ‘This Child of Mine.’ This novel was originally released in 2012, but it was published again in September 2013 with a slightly different cover. Not only was I curious to find out more about Sinead Moriarty and her novels, I also was immediately taken in by the blurb of this book, which promises a fascinating and gripping read.
‘This Child of Mine’ tells the story of two completely different women. There’s Anna; who has done a wonderful job raising her eighteen-year-old daughter Sophie. Her whole life is dedicated to Sophie, and Anna wouldn’t have it any other way. And there’s Laura; who is still trying to come to terms with the loss of her first daughter, Jody, even though she has her difficult teenage daughter Mandy to keep her busy. One thing Anna and Laura have in common is the moment their paths crossed, which influenced their lives in the biggest way, and now it looks as if their paths are about to cross again after an unexpected and shocking discovery...
This review will probably be slightly vague in places, because I don’t want to ruin any reading experiences by giving too much about the book away! The novel deals with a rather controversial topic, which results in a story that is both emotional (it made me swipe away a tear every now and again) and gripping (I finished the book within a few hours, not wanting to stop reading). Sinead Moriarty’s writing style is wonderful and captivating, which works really well with this kind of story. As I already said, I was really gripped by this tale from the first few pages and didn’t want to put it down.
One of the strengths of this novel is the fact that the story is told from several different perspectives. This way the reader not only learns about different aspects of the storyline, but it also results in various emotions which make you sympathise with all of the characters in a different way. At the core of the book there’s a mix of strong and fascinating characters; not only mothers Laura and Anna and their daughters Sophie and Mandy, but also other supporting characters. Sinead Moriarty’s ‘This Child of Mine’ is a truly compelling, intriguing and in-depth read that will draw you in until you’ve finished all of it. Highly recommended to any lovers of women’s fiction; a thoroughly good read!
Rating:
8,5/10
‘I Wished For You’ is the story of Grace who is at that age where there are six weddings a year and the question on everyone's lips is: who's next? She and her boyfriend Robbie seem the perfect fit, but when he unexpectedly goes down on bended knee, Grace freaks out. Cue the mother of all meltdowns.
On top of that, Grace's passion for fashion is not exactly fulfilled by her job - dressing well-to-do ladies with way more money than style. Cue - in her addled state after the bended knee fiasco - losing it in work, with disastrous consequences.
Into Grace's train-wreck of a life comes Verity - ex-Hollywood costume lady and vintage clothing queen. Verity is not called the Vintage Vixen for nothing: she has seen it all and done it all and her life makes Grace's look about as exciting as Songs of Praise. Verity tells Grace that the secret of happiness is to discover her 'heart wish'. If only Grace could work out what her heart's greatest wish really is ...
When I was contacted by Penguin about Amy Huberman’s new novel ‘I Wished for You’, I immediately liked the sound of the book. I wasn’t familiar with Amy Huberman’s work; her first novel ‘Hello Heartbreak’ was published in 2009, became a bestseller and was nominated for two Irish Book Awards in 2010. After doing some research on the Internet I especially found people applauding Amy Huberman for her humour, which made readers laugh out loud, so I was looking forward to sitting down with ‘I Wished for You’ and see if I’d enjoy it!
Grace has been together with her lovely boyfriend Robbie for years and they seem to be perfect for one another. However, Grace’s 30th birthday is nearing and people around her keep asking her when she will be the one walking down the aisle; a question Grace clearly isn’t ready for yet. So when Robbie proposes to her, Grace doesn’t know what else to do than to say ‘no.’ Looking for a new challenge in her life, she ends up in a vintage clothing store which is run by an older woman named Verity. Grace tries to focus on other things in her life, but it is Verity who tells her about people’s ‘heart wish’, the one thing they long for in order to find happiness, and Grace knows she will have to discover her own ‘heart wish’ in order to find what she has been looking for all this time.
It took me quite some time to really get into the novel, but as soon as I was, I really enjoyed the plotline and wanted to continue on reading to discover what Grace would do to find her ‘heart wish’ and whether she would be able to find it or not. I liked Grace, even though she managed to really frustrate me at some points. I think she’s a main female character a lot of women will be able to relate to, and I personally loved her passion for clothes and old films. The references to female figures like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor and the amazing pieces of clothing they wore, really added a special touch to the book. The secondary characters in the novel are also fantastic; I specifically liked Lisa, who is Grace’s hilarious best friend, and Verity, the shop owner who almost becomes like a fairy godmother to Grace.
I have to admit I had to get used to Amy Huberman’s distinctive sense of humour at first, but she definitely made me laugh out loud multiple times. I love how her funny side gives the book a specific Amy Huberman feel, which shows that she clearly has her own unique style of writing. ‘I Wished for You’ is a witty, light, fun read that is a thoroughly enjoyable mixture of chick-lit, vintage clothes and romance, and I’m personally quite curious to see what Amy Huberman will come up with for her next book!
Rating:
8/10
Coco Swan has always been embarrassed by her name.
With a name like Coco, she thinks people expect her to be as exotic and glamorous as the famous designer, not an ordinary-looking small-town antiques dealer who could win an award for living cautiously.
But when a vintage Chanel handbag turns up in a box of worthless bric-a-brac, Coco's quiet world is turned upside down. Where did it come from? And is it just coincidence that it's the same bag Coco's late mother always wanted for her?
When Coco discovers a mysterious, decades-old letter hidden in the bag's lining, she sets off on a quest to piece together the story behind it, stumbling across secrets that span three generations as she goes. Could the beautiful Chanel bag be about to teach Coco more than she wants to learn? Or will it show her just where her heart can take her if she lets it lead the way?
One of the first novels I reviewed for this blog was Niamh Greene’s ‘A Message to Your Heart’. It was a lovely, uplifting read and a book I still recommend to others. So, when I heard a new novel by Niamh Greene was being released, I immediately knew I wanted to pick up a copy and read it, hoping I would end up enjoying this new novel as much as I did Niamh’s previous one. Luckily, I received a review copy of ‘Coco’s Secret’ (thank you, Penguin!) and couldn’t wait to get stuck in!
When she was just thirteen years old, Coco Swan’s mother died unexpectedly, leaving her in the care of her grandparents. Over the years, she has grown up in a small and safe English village, helping her grandmother Ruth with the family antiques shop. Coco often thinks about her mother, who lived a thrilling and exotic life travelling the world to find amazing new pieces to sell in the antique store, and how she decided to name her daughter after the fabulous Coco Chanel, hoping her daughter would grow up to do big things as well. Coco feels she is the complete opposite of all this: plain, leading an uneventful life, invisible. However, one day Coco buys a marble topped table at an auction, and in the boxes of junk on top of it she finds a beautiful real Chanel bag; just like the one her mother had always wanted her to have and cherish. Within the bag, Coco finds a letter, and soon she finds herself embarking on a journey to discover the true story behind this letter...
Niamh Greene is a born storyteller and her ability to turn something slightly random, like a handbag, into something amazing is what makes this novel such an enjoyable read. As a reader, you are taken on an enchanting journey through the past and present, and I found myself with a constant smile on my face while reading this book. I instantly liked Coco, she’s an easily loveable and relatable heroine, and I loved joining her on her journey to discover the story behind the Chanel handbag and the letter inside it, but also on her path to discover who she is and what she wants in life.
One of the things that also instantly attracted me to this novel is the way antiques and vintage fashion play a significant role. I love strolling around antique stores, and learning more about the history of fashion femme fatales like Coco Chanel, so this element of the novel definitely caught my attention. Next to that, Niamh Greene has created a cast of easily loveable characters (including Coco’s grandmother Ruth, such a great and inspiring woman), and managed to add a mysterious feel to the book, making you want to turn the pages until you know everything about that bag and the letter. ‘Coco’s Secret’ is a warm, enchanting, feel-good read that I recommend to any female reader, and I personally can’t wait for Niamh Greene’s next book!
Rating:
8,5/10
