From the Book Elf

  The Walled Garden by Sarah Hardy The Walled Garden by Sarah Hardy is published on 16th March by Manilla Press/ Zafre. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy of the book to review and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the Book Tour. Synopsis A luminous debut novel about love, the trauma of war and the miracle of human resilience, for readers of Anna Hope, Sadie Jones and Elizabeth Jane Howard. No one survives war unscathed. But even in the darkest days, seeds of hope can grow. It is 1946 and in the village of Oakbourne the men are home from the war. Their bodies are healing but their psychological wounds run deep. Everyone is scarred - those who fought and those left behind. Alice Rayne is married to Stephen, heir to crumbling Oakbourne Hall. Once a sweet, gentle man, he has returned a bitter and angry stranger, destroyed by what he has seen and done, tormented by secrets Alice can only guess at. Lonely and increasingly afraid of the ma...

  God of Fire by Helen Steadman God of Fire: Greek Myths A New Retelling: Ancient Greek Myths Retold by Hephaestus by Helen Steadman was published in September 2022 by Bell Jar Books. My thanks to the author for sending me a copy of her book to review and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis Cast out of heaven at the hands of Hera and raised beneath the sea, this is the epic story of Hephaestus, god of fire. In the palace of Zeus, a son is born to the greatest goddess, Hera. Withered and ugly, the newborn Hephaestus is hurled from the heavens by his repulsed mother. The unforgiving sea offers no soft landing, and the broken godlet sinks to the depths, where his little flame falters. But as darkness looms, he is saved by the sea witch, Thetis, who raises the outcast as her own. The only Olympian whose injuries never heal, the god of fire endures eternal pain from his wounded leg, making him perhaps the most human member of the pantheon. As if his ...

  Barking up the Right Tree by Leigh Russell The first in the new Poppy Mystery Tales Barking up the Right Tree by Leigh Russell is published on 23rd March 2023 by Crime & Mystery Club/ Oldcastle Books My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis After losing her job and her boyfriend, Emily is devastated. As she is puzzling over what to do with the rest of her life,  she is surprised to learn that her great aunt has died,  leaving Emily her cottage in the picturesque Wiltshire village of Ashton Mead. But there is one condition to her inheritance: she finds herself the unwilling owner of a pet. Not knowing what to expect, Emily sets off for the village, hoping to make a new life for herself. In Ashton Mead, she soon makes friends with Hannah who runs the Sunshine Tea Shoppe and meets other residents of the village where she decides to settle. All is going well... ...

 Forgotten Women by Zing Tsjeng Forgotten Women by Zing Tsjeng is published on 9th March 2023 by Brazen. My thanks to the author and publishers for sending me a copy to review and  Random Book Tours for inviting me on the Book Tour. Synopsis Forgotten Women reaches around the world and its history to rediscover, retell and reinstate the lives of over 190 important and significant women. From Neolithic times to Modernity,  Zing Tsjeng has traced the women who have shaped their age and revolutionised society. In this book lies the strength, lives and sacrifices of women  who have refused to accept the hand they've been dealt and  have changed the course of our futures accordingly. My Review This incredibly interesting book is divided into Campaigners, Mavericks, Revolutionaries, Trailblazers, Worldchangers, Truthtellers and Visionaries. Zing has written approximately two to three pages on each of the women she has researched for her book and consequently has creat...

  The Last Tree by Luke Adam Hawker From the Sunday Times  bestselling author of Together The Last Tree by Luke Adam Hawker  is published on 2nd March by Ilex Press / Octopus Books.  My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me this beautiful book to review and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour Synopsis: Imagine a world without trees. A world that is in many ways like our world, but where magnificent canopies, tree climbing and leaves rustling in the breeze are now only distant memories. Until a young girl comes along, a girl who is brave and spirited and willing to follow where her imagination takes her. Through Olive's adventures in the world of trees we are reminded of nature's extraordinary power and beauty, and her actions ultimately sow the seeds of new life in her own world. From the mind and pen of bestselling author Luke Adam Hawker, The Last Tree is a powerful evocation of the fragility of our natural world...

  Tekebash & Saba by Saba Alemayoh Recipes from the Horn of Africa Tekebash & Saba by Saba Alemayoh is published on the 9th March 2023 by Murdoch Books. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the Tour. Synopsis From Tigray to the world, a love story through food. This is not your regular cookbook. The recipes are a legacy of Tekebash Gebre, my extraordinary mother. Tekebash was born in Tigray, under the rule of the last Ethiopian emperor. She lived under a communist regime before fleeing to Sudan. Since then we have been on a migration journey, from Aksum to Khartoum to Melbourne and beyond. Our hearts, however, will forever be Tigrayan, and through Tekebash's simple, vibrant dishes we celebrate a connection that won't be broken. It has been my privilege to translate and record what Tekebash cooked by taste, touch and memory for several years in our Melbourne restaurant. It...

One Moment by Becky Hunter Life or death, Love or loss, It can all happen in.... One Moment One Moment by Becky Hunter is published on the 2nd March 2023 by Corvus. My thanks to the author and the publisher who sent me a copy and  Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.   Synopsis: One moment in time can change everything... The day Scarlett dies should have been one of the most important of her life. It doesn't feel fair that she'll never have the chance to fulfil her dreams. And now, she's still ... here - wherever here is - watching the ripple effect of her death on the lives of those she loved the most. Evie cannot contemplate her life without Scarlett, and she certainly cannot forgive Nate, the man she blames for her best friend's death. But Nate keeps popping up when she least expects him to, catapulting Evie's life in directions she'd never let herself imagine possible. Ways, perhaps, even those closest to her had long since given up o...

  The Venice Secret by Anita Chapman   One hidden painting. Two women born centuries apart. A secret uncovered.       The Venice Secret by Anita Chapman   is published on 7th March 2023 My thanks to Anita who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis In 2019, Rachel is stuck in a rut when she discovers what appears to be a Canaletto painting in her grandmother's loft along with a note addressed to Philippa in 1782. With help from Jake at the local art gallery, Rachel endeavours to find out if the painting is an original and uncovers a secret from the past. In 1780, governess at Chipford Hal...

  The Scapegoat by Michael V. Solomon The Scapegoat by Michael V.Solomon is published on 24th February 2023 by Univers/Unicorn Publishing My thanks to the author and publishers for sending me a copy to review and  Random Book Tours for inviting me on the Book Tour. Synopsis Publius Ovidius Naso (43BC – 17/18AD), known as Ovid, was notable as much for his disgrace as for his poetry. By pleasing his contemporaries, befriending patricians and subtly mocking the Emperor Augustus, he was transformed from a provincial outsider to Rome’s darling – and, for some, its corrupter. Banished without trial to a remote port on the Black Sea, he continued to write. It is fortunate that most of his work has not been lost. The transformation stories of his masterpiece –the Metamorphoses– inspired not just Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton, but have been a major influence on European culture. They brought him instant literary glory and notable adversaries. His works were banned by the Emperor Au...