Blog Tour: Fairlight Moderns

I was delighted to be asked if I would like to be part of the blog tour for Fairlight Books new novellas and I of course said yes. These five beautiful novellas are out this Thursday, 11th July from Fairlight Books and I absolutely love them. As part of the tour I am telling you a little bit more about them and reviewing one of them, but which one? Read on to find out. I don't usually read novellas, simply because I usually want a longer book to read but these five from Fairlight just really appealed to me and even just after reading one, I knew these were really special. The books in the novella series are: Inside the Bone Box by Anthony Ferner, Travelling in the Dark by Emma Timpany, There are Things I Know by Karen B. Golightly, Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn, The Driveaway Has Two Sides by Sara Marchant.

Inside the Bone Box by Anthony Ferner:

Nicholas Anderton is a highly respected neurosurgeon at the top of his field. But behind the successful facade all is not well. Tormented by a toxic marriage and haunted by past mistakes, Anderton has been eating to forget. His wife, meanwhile, has turned to drink. There are sniggers behind closed doors - how can a surgeon be fat, they wisper; when mistakes are made and his old adversary Nash steps in to take advantage, Anderton knows that things are coming to a head...


Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn

When Alina's brother-in-law defects to the West, she and her husband become persons of interest to the secret services, causing both of their careers to come grinding to a halt. As the strain takes its toll on their marriage, Alina turns to her aunt for help - the wife of a communist leader and a secret practitioner of the old folk ways. Set in 1970's communist Romania, this novella-in-flash draws upon magic realism to weave a tale of everyday troubles, that can't be put down.


The Driveaway Has Two Sides by Sara Marchant

On an East Coast island, full of tall pine moaning with sea gusts, Delilah moves into a cottage by the shore. The neighbours gossip as they watch her clean, her black hair tied back in a white rubber band. They don't like it when she plants a garden out front - orange red Carpinus caroliniana and silvery blue hosta. Very unusual, they whisper.

Across the driveway lives a man who never goes out. Delilah knows he's watching her too and she likes the look of him, but perhaps life is too complicated already...

There are Things I Know by Karen B. Golightly Eight year old Pepper sees the world a little differently from most people. One day, during a school field trip, Pepper is kidnapped by a stranger and driven to rural Arkansas. The man, who calls himself 'Uncle Dan', claims that Pepper's mother has died and they are to live together from now on - but the boy isn't convinced. Pepper always found it hard to figure out when people are lying, but he's absolutely certain his mother is alive, and he's going to find her... Travelling in the Dark by Emma Timpany Travelling back to her home town with her young son, Sarah is ready to face up to what she ran away from ten years ago. As delays and diversions force her to return to well-known places from her youth, Sarah reflects on the relationships with her family and the events of the past that have shaped her present. Set in the wild, beautiful and unreliable landscape of southern New Zealand, the novella is an evocative story of a woman coming to terms with her past.

review

The Driveway has Two sides

I usually shy away from novellas as I never think I will have enough time to get into the story or get to know the characters, but Sara Marchant has proved me wrong in The Driveway has two sides. At just under 130 pages long, this was a perfect story to dip into and take you away for an afternoon. I was instantly enamoured with Delilah, the mysterious man who lives next door and the magical garden she creates. I fell in love with all the characters, their relationships and how you can never judge someone simply based on their appearance. I throughly enjoyed The Driveway Has Two Sides and really want to read more from Sara Marchant.

The Fairlight Moderns are out on July 11th