The Ship

The Ship by Antonia Honeywell

Published by W&N

19th February 2015

Hardback Edition

 

WELCOME TO LONDON

BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Oxford Street burned for three weeks. The British Museum is occupied by ragtag survivors. The Regent's Park camps have been bombed. The Nazareth Act has come into force. If you can't produce your identity card, you don't exist.

Lalla, sixteen, has grown up sheltered from the new reality by her visionary father, Michael Paul. But now the chaos has reached their doorstep. Michael has promised to save them. His escape route is a ship big enough to save five hundred people. But only the worthy will be chosen.

Once on board, as day follows identical day, Lalla's unease grows. Where are they going? What does her father really want?

WHAT IS THE PRICE OF SALVATION?

This is the first book that I've read as part of a new book group that I'm in, being run by the publishers at Curtis Brown.  They advertised it on twitter last year so I thought I'd fill out the form and see what happened, and lo and behold, I was chosen!  The Ship was our initial read and then we got to take part in an online discussion with the others from the group, plus the author herself which was lots of fun.

The Ship is a dystopian novel that some say is billed for the YA market, and others not, but as the author herself had no definitive answer to that question, lets just say it's available out there for anyone who wants to read it.  Now I'm not a sci-fi fan, and on the basis of the blurb, I would not have chosen to read this book.  However, I'm a sucker for a nice cover and based on that, I would actually have picked it up, which I think others in the group have said too.

The plot is as such, we are in London, sometime in the future.  Without an identity card you are no one.  You cannot live, you cannot eat, you  cannot survive.  Those who are now identityless are camped out in numerous locations throughout the city, the British Museum being one of these shelters.   Lalla lives with her parents Michael and Anna in the confines of their house.  They visit the museum often, but are always aware of what doubt there is to their future and the world that they live in.  Michael though has a plan, one that he discusses in quiet whispers with his wife when he thinks Lalla isn't listening - something about a ship.

One even a terrible thing occurs and the family leave their home to board the vessel that Michael has been planning for years.  On board are almost 500 other people, specifically chosen by Michael to be saved.  As the ship sets sail, what wonders will this new life provide for those on board, or will they regret leaving London behind?

I don't want to give too much away here, but I will say that once on board the ship (I keep wanting to call it a boat) I felt very claustrophobic - I don't think cruising is going to be for me, especially after this, but The Ship is a very easy read, and it's not too sci-fi that I didn't enjoy it.  In fact, it was very readable and provided us with lots of things to discuss, so I'd definitely recommend it for other book groups to add to their list.

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x

Wild

Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed

Published by Atlantic Books

1st January 2015

Paperback Edition

 

 

At twenty-six, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's rapid death from cancer, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise - a promise of piecing together a life that lay shattered at her feet...

 

Having previously read, and enjoyed Torch by Cheryl Strayed, I instantly set about getting my hands on her other two books, Wild and Tiny Beautiful Things.  If you don't already know, Wild has just been released as a film staring Reece Witherspoon and everyone who is in the know says you must read the book first.  Not a dilemma for me as by the time I get to see it (and I do want to watch it), it will be out on dvd or on the tv and no longer in the cinema!

Four years on from the death of her mother (which Torch touches upon), Cheryl's life turns upside down.  Her stepfather finds a new love, her brother and sister take different paths with their own lives, and her marriage to Paul begins to break down, with Cheryl having numerous affairs.  She needs to find her way in life but she has no idea how to do it.

A chance finding of a map about the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) ignites a tiny flame inside Cheryl that seems reluctant to be put out.  The idea grows until suddenly it is a fully envisaged plan - she will walk the PCT on her own, from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State.  Having never walked before this is a humungous task and not one to be undertaken lightly.  What on earth do you need to be out in the wilderness for months at a time, and most importantly, can she even achieve it?

With a route mapped out, and boxes waiting for her at various stages along the way, Cheryl and her backpack Monster begin the journey.  Within hours she has blisters and feels she cannot go any further - but this is only day one.  There are over 1000 miles left to conquer. 

I was thoroughly rooting for Cheryl all the way through Wild.  Its a brutally honest book and some parts of it made me wince inside.  As she steps out into the wilderness, we too hear the silence of being the only person around, the rattle of the snakes warning us that they are in our way, and the sound of running water when our only supply has dried up.  This is also a book about camaraderie with the fellow walkers that Cheryl meets on the trail time and time again.  Of counting the dimes and cents for food and Snapple lemonade when you know that what is in your pocket is all you have until your next parcel collection, and of reading and burning pages of books along the way until you finally reach your final destination.

I'm an indoorsy person but reading Wild made me want to go outside and live a little more.  I don't have the strength to do what she did, but boy I admire her so much for doing it.

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x

The Zig-Zag Girl

The Zig-Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths

Published by Quercus

6th November 2014

Paperback Edition

 

Brighton, 1950.

When the body of a girl is found, cut into three, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is reminded of a magic trick, the Zig Zag Girl. The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, is an old friend of Edgar's. They served together in the war as part of a shadowy unit called the Magic Men. Max is still on the circuit, touring seaside towns in the company of ventriloquists, sword-swallowers and dancing girls. Changing times mean that variety is not what it once was, yet Max is reluctant to leave this world to help Edgar investigate.

But when the dead girl turns out to be known to him, Max changes his mind. Another death, another magic trick: Edgar and Max become convinced that the answer to the murders lies in their army days. When Edgar receives a letter warning of another 'trick', the Wolf Trap, he knows that they are all in the killer's sights...

 

Set in the days when the world of theatre was changing, The Zig-Zag Girl looks at the less glamorous side of the fading era of magic and of the growing world of comedy in the theatres around Britain.  Primarily based in Brighton, the book centres around Edgar Stephens, a DI who during the Second World War was part of a unit known the Magic Men.  Stephens has left the world of magic behind him, but when the body of a girl turns up in three separate boxes, he is reminded of a trick called the zig zag girl that was once performed by a member of the Magic Men, Max Mephisto.  Edgar gets in touch with Max who is still performing, and the Magic Men are slowly reunited.  However as things progress, their number starts to decline one by one and it is clear that they are all in danger.  They all know how to perform and what each trick entails but someone somewhere is re-enacting these stunts with catastrophic consequences, and no one knows who will be lured to their death next.

What I really enjoyed about this book was its sense of atmosphere and era.  You could envisage the changing world of the industry as you read through the story, of the clubs that no longer sparkled and gleamed, and of playing to the same tired old audiences time and again.  I didn't work out who the killer was; I think Elly Griffiths worked her plot and characters so well that as the book moved along I didn't have time to question 'whodunnit' as I focused on what was going to happen next. 

 

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x

Arsenic for Tea: A Wells & Wong Mystery

Arsenic for Tea: A Wells & Wong Mystery by Robin Stevens

Published by Corgi Childrens

29th January 2015

Paperback Edition

Schoolgirl detectives Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are at Daisy's home, Fallingford, for the holidays. Daisy's glamorous mother is throwing a tea party for Daisy's birthday, and the whole family is invited, from eccentric Aunt Saskia to dashing Uncle Felix. But it soon becomes clear that this party isn't really about Daisy at all. Naturally, Daisy is furious.

Then one of their party falls seriously, mysteriously ill - and everything points to poison.

With wild storms preventing anyone from leaving, or the police from arriving, Fallingford suddenly feels like a very dangerous place to be. Not a single person present is what they seem - and everyone has a secret or two. And when someone very close to Daisy looks suspicious, the Detective Society must do everything they can to reveal the truth . .  no matter the consequences.

 

This is the second in the Wells & Wong series and for me it doesn't disappoint.  In my opinion, Robin Stevens writes in the same vein as Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce novels, and I adore them, (and Flavia) too.  Set in April 1932, schoolgirls Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells are home from their boarding school Deepdean for the holidays, and as it's Daisy's birthday, they are joined by fellow boarders Kitty and Beanie.  Daisy's mother, the self-obsessed Lady Hastings seems to have invited all manner of guests along for the party, including the rather mysterious Mr Curtis, whom no one except Lady Hastings claims to know. 

 

Due to some odd behaviour, the Detective Society, now with two honorary members, are soon investigating the guests in the house, and even more so when one of the grown-ups is taken seriously ill at tea.  As luck would have it, for the girls anyway, the weather takes a turn for the worse, and the police cannot arrive until the floods subside.  It looks like it is up to the girls to solve the mystery again, especially as no one can leave Fallingford either!

Robin Stevens loves Agatha Christie novels and I think this is apparent in her writing as her books read like Miss Marple novels for young adults.  They are fun and well-paced with lots of detail and suspicious characters to keep you guessing who's going to succumb to danger, and ultimately whodunnit.  I can't wait for the next one!

Gripping and lots of fun!

 

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Published by Doubleday

15th January 2015

Hardback Edition

 

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy.

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.

Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.

Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Paula Hawkins debut novel has already been compared to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and at times it seems that if you have written a crime novel, with a leading female protagonist (or in this case three of them), then this comparison seems to always crop up.  It is unfortunate that you can't write a book these days without it being compared to something else that came before.  However, in my humble opinion, The Girl on the Train is better than Gone Girl which I enjoyed but thought had a pffff ending that left me disappointed to say the least.

Anyway, back to the book in question, which attracted a huge bidding war last summer, with Doubleday winning over the other publishing houses concerned.  I can see why, this is probably going to be huge this year, even more so when it hits the shelves as a paperback, and I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it to the big screen, as I thought it was a very visual novel.

The book starts with Rachel, on the train home from work that she takes every week night.  When the train stops, Rachel always turns to look at the houses along the embankment, and in particular to see if a couple she has named Jess and Jason are at home.  Rachel usually sees one, or both of them, each day, and in her head has visualised their perfect lives together.  What she doesn't do is to look at the house just down from theirs, which it turns out, used to be hers.  Rachel is an unreliable narrator, in that not only does she lie, but she also drinks, heavily, and it is this that makes her so untrustworthy.  Whenever she does see something of significant importance, she usually seems to be drunk.

The other two narrators are Megan - or as we initially know her, Jess, and Anna who lives in Rachel's old house.  Their lives become linked by Rachel and by what she sees from the train on the way home.  The plot reminded me a little of the Steve Guttenberg film The Bedroom Window.

However, can we trust Rachel or does she have another agenda?  Come to that, on the face of it, can we either trust Anna or Megan, or their partners Tom and Scott?  Is everything that we see, or think we see, what it appears to be?

I read this in 24 hours because I needed to know what was going to happen next.  I felt sorry for Rachel, who used to 'have it all' and is now just seen as an overweight, unemployed drunk who is considered unreliable by most people and even when she tries to convince people that what she knows is fact, they don't tend to believe her.  Paula Hawkins writes about characters, with real flaws, that remind us that what people see on the outside, isn't necessarily what is going on on the inside. 

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x

The Bookshop That Floated Away

The Bookshop That Floated Away by Sarah Henshaw

Published by Constable

3rd April 2014

Paperback Edition

In early 2009 a strange sort of business plan landed on the desk of a pinstriped bank manager. It had pictures of rats and moles in rowing boats and archaic quotes about Cleopatra's barge. It asked for a £30,000 loan to buy a black-and-cream narrowboat and a small hoard of books. The manager said no. Nevertheless The Book Barge opened six months later and enjoyed the happy patronage of local readers, a growing number of eccentrics and the odd moorhen

Business wasn't always easy, so one May morning owner Sarah Henshaw set off for six months chugging the length and breadth of the country. Books were bartered for food, accommodation, bathroom facilities and cake. During the journey, the barge suffered a flooded engine, went out to sea, got banned from Bristol and, on several occasions, floated away altogether. This account follows the ebbs and flows of Sarah's journey as she sought to make her vision of a floating bookshop a reality.

 

I initially heard about this book via another blogger Miss Beatrix, and my interest was immediately grabbed.  I needed a copy of this book, which unfortunately appeared, via the publishers, to have gone out of print!  However, patience is a virtue and by the end of last year, I had not one, but two copies of The Bookshop That Floated Away in my hands.

I guess we all have dreams that never come to fruition, and if you asked us book loving types what our dreams involve, it may equate to selling books for a living, working in publishing, or being an author.  Sarah Henshaw fancied the first option, but not in the conventional sense of bookselling, by renting a shop to do it from.  Oh no, she decided to spend her parent's money on buying a barge, and turning it into a bookshop!  In a industry that has seen bookshops close more frequently than they are opened, it was certainly a risky venture, and Sarah documents this in her book.  Split into three parts (with the middle part being about the boat's (Joseph) history - sorry Sarah I skipped this bit because I wanted to carry on with the current story) it tells of how Sarah decides to take her boat up and down the locks of England, with a dream of one day sailing along the Seine in Paris, trying to sell her books. 

What actually happens isn't maybe quite what she had planned for, with issues in Bristol about being able to sell at all, and flooding problems, let alone the time she came back and found her boat in the middle of the sea, unmoored from it's hitch, but with determination and some bartering skills, Sarah manages to swap books for meals, drinks, and a bed for the night.  She meets a whole host of characters along the way and her business survives.

You can still find Sarah running her bookshop along the banks of the river at Barton marina, Barton under Needwood.  She has a website and Facebook page if you indeed fancy popping along for a browse of her books, and hopefully, for her, a purchase or two.

I'm lucky to have a copy of The Bookshop That Floated Away to give away to one reader of Miss Chapter's Reviews.  Just leave a comment below, or on my Facebook page or over on Twitter  The competition will close at midnight UK time on Friday 23rd January and you can enter as many times as you like.

 

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x

The Hourglass Factory

The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester

Published by Simon & Schuster

Paperback Edition

15th January 2015

 

1912 and London is in turmoil...

The suffragette movement is reaching fever pitch but for broke Fleet Street tomboy Frankie George, just getting by in the cut-throat world of newspapers is hard enough. Sent to interview trapeze artist Ebony Diamond, Frankie finds herself fascinated by the tightly laced acrobat and follows her across London to a Mayfair corset shop that hides more than one dark secret.

Then Ebony Diamond mysteriously disappears in the middle of a performance, and Frankie is drawn into a world of tricks, society columnists, corset fetishists, suffragettes and circus freaks. How did Ebony vanish, who was she afraid of, and what goes on behind the doors of the mysterious Hourglass Factory?

From the newsrooms of Fleet Street to the drawing rooms of high society, the missing Ebony Diamond leads Frankie to the trail of a murderous villain with a plot more deadly than anyone could have imagined...
 

Lucy Ribchester's debut novel is a fantastic combination of circus and politics.  Set in 1912 at the time of the sinking of the Titanic, Ebony Diamond, suffragette and trapeze artist, is trying to use her work to help in the cause for votes for women.  Meanwhile, reporter Frankie George has been sent to interview the flamboyant performer.  However Ebony soon disappears after agreeing to meet Frankie, and this peaks Frankie's interest, especially as a young woman, wearing the circus performers clothes is found murdered in the London street.

Can there be a link to Ebony Diamond's disappearance, and this woman's death?  Frankie seems to think so, and using her investigative skills, sets off to see if she can find out more.  The police though have their hands full, with Mrs Pankhurst and her WSPU members causing mayhem and damage on the streets; they certainly don't have time to be interested in a missing showgirl, or in the death of another young woman.

I really enjoyed this book.  I'm fascinated by the suffragette movement anyway, and Lucy Ribchester has clearly done her research.  Her description of force-feeding in prison was stomach-churningly accurate, and I really did feel that she captured the growing emotions and frustrations felt by the women, and men, concerned throughout the book.  In fact she kept the story going right to the very last sentence, without letting the tension drop at all.  This would make a fantastic film, as it is very dramatic and visual.  A brilliant read that I would wholly recommend to start the year with.

 

Happy Reading

 

Miss Chapter x