The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story, book review. (Kate Summerscale)

I don't read a lot of non-fiction so this was a break from the normal but having read Kate Summerscale's superb, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher some years ago, I felt it only right to peruse the leaves of this fine volume.

I know, from being a writer myself, that research is a key part to any narrative, be it fiction or non, but the work that has gone into this book must have been very extensive because, as is very apparent from the beginning, the reader is quickly ensconced into the past, in Alma Fielding's life, her very living room, surrounded by her family, and with cups flying, tables thumping, stranger's jewellery appearing on her hands, eggs flying and items being tossed down the stairs, the writing flows so expertly that you soon forget any scepticisms you may have had when turning the first page, and accept what is happening as truth - that there was a haunting in a London suburb in 1938.
Enter, Nandor Fodor - a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research, who, having read about her case and arranged to meet at the Fielding's house, starts to believe that maybe there is something in the story, that a poltergeist may actually be haunting Alma Fielding. To test this theory, Fodor invited Alma to the institute to undergo tests, tests to see if object will materialise in her presence, like the terrapin that seemed to materialise on her lap during a car journey - and to try and get to the bottom of the mystery.
I truly didn't know how this book would conclude, whether proof of the haunting would be put beyond reasonable doubt by the author and therefore convince the reader that what had happened was genuine, or whether there was fraud at play, and if so, for what purpose - after all, the amount of smashed crockery and ruined food described here would have cost a lot to replace and Alma Fielding was only paid a minimal sum to attend the institute and there was no guarantee that that would have been on the cards when the haunting began; so again, what motive other than a bona fide haunting was there?
Well, you'll have to read the book and draw your own conclusions because, as is usual, I'm giving nothing away here, but what I will say is this: Kate Summerscale has an amazing ability. She writes about what could have been a rather lacklustre incident in 1930s London just before World War II and pulls you in in her skilful way and you're halfway through before you've had time to draw breath, to think, to process, and when you do, when you come up for air and start asking those inevitable questions: is this really real? Did these people really witness these events? Did an International Institute for Psychical Research really exist? You dive back in to get the answers, and that sort of writing is rare and should be applauded and so, four stars for, The Haunting of Alma Fielding is fully deserved and as a book, I whole heartedly recommend it.
Enjoy.

Don't forget to search my blog for your favourite authors and books and if I haven't read them, message me with your recommendations.

Pine, book review. (Francine Toon)

Cold, dark, lonely and foreboding with a dash of the spirit world, pretty much sums up, Pine by Francine Toon; a debut novel that garnered much press on its release last year but, what are you really in for?
Lauren (Oren) lives alone with her father, Niall - who drinks too much – in a rundown house on the edge of a pine forest. Being only ten, she relies on her father to not only feed and clothe her but get her to school, love her and keep her safe, which he falls short on some of the time.
It's Halloween and she and her father are driving through the snow to go trick or treating, when a woman runs fleetingly in front of them, or so she thinks, but it isn't until they return and it happens again that Niall pulls over and offers assistance - taking the frail looking woman home with them.
By morning the woman is gone and Niall has forgotten the incident but Lauren has not, and so she starts asking questions, questions her father doesn't like, so Lauren turns to her tarot cards.
Her mother, Christine walked out when she was tiny, never to be seen again, and we learn about her bohemian nature, how she lived (or tried to), free of the burdens and constraints of materialistic life, spiritually, and start to question what might have happened to her. Did she just up and leave, or was there something more sinister going on?
There are those in town that know more than they're letting on, those that suspect Niall of killing her, after all, there's no shortage of places to hide a body in the forest, and then there's the strange goings on: Lauren’s bedroom is completely tidied one day, people see a woman in white but hours later have no recollection of the event – Lauren’s father, her friend from school and a local in the pub all experience that illusion. Then, Ann-Marie, a girl from the village, disappears; a girl who babysat Lauren and was last seen in her father's truck!
Toon’s writing is very descriptive and equally convincing and leaves you cold, lonely, suspicious and on edge; it is also smooth - a strange word ‘smooth’ but accurate all the same, because ninety percent of the book has just the one tempo; which is not a bad thing.

Whether it's Lauren getting lost in the woods, Niall inebriated, the woman in white appearing or the police arriving after Ann-Marie’s disappearance, the tempo remains much the same, and as much as I like the fast, furious action packed spikes and slow plateaus of some books, I think here - whether intentional or not - smooth suited the quiet, empty, haunting-ness of the story, reminding me of Gabriel Tallent's, My Absolute Darling in its descriptive nature (although that one’s far too repetitive), and Eowyn Ivey's, The Snow Child, for its sense of isolation.
Will Ann-Marie and Lauren’s mum be found? Will Niall stop drinking? Who or what is the woman in white? are all questions you’ll have to read the book to find out, but Pine is a good first novel, one I can recommend, so grab a copy and enjoy, especially as it's only getting colder here in England with snow already falling.

Three stars.

Don't forget to search my blog for your favourite authors and books and if I haven't read them, message me your recommendations.

Susan Hill. (Author focus).

Something new for the blog today: a focus on one of my favourite authors, Susan Hill.

It was after reading, Air & Angels and it subsequently becoming my book of the year 2017, (blog post 01/01/18), that I started thinking about what else this author had written; what other books in her extensive back catalogue I had read, and so, I thought maybe I'd start a new series of posts that focus on the author, not just individual books.

Since the delicate and poetic prose of, Air & Angels, I have read the very atmospheric, The Mist in the Mirror, which makes the hairs on your neck tingle and sends shivers down your spine, (even on a warm autumnal afternoon), and I've just finished, I'm the King of the Castle, a tale of childhood drama, set in the quiet gentile English countryside, where still, the author is able to get your heart racing with just a walk in the woods!

I'm the King of the Castle, did feel a bit dated, it was written in 1970 after all, whereas, Strange Meeting, which is set in France during WWI, gives a poignant reminder to the physical and mental suffering of soldiers at the time, and should be added to anyone's, TBR (to be read) list.

One of Susan Hill's boldest ventures was to write the follow up to one of literature's most famous books, Rebecca, with the sequel, Mrs de Winter, which is also rather good, but without doubt, her most famous book is the amazingly brilliant, Woman in Black, and if I had to recommend just one of the few books of hers that I have read, it would be this one.

Written in the early 80's, that's 1980's by the way, The Woman in Black, is a spooky, creepy, violent, scary, Gothic ghost story of epic proportions, which is not to say it is long, for it is not, but it is a book that stays with you, and since I first read it (thank brother) many years ago, I can't help but see its influence in almost every other ghost story I read.

Set in Victorian England, in a weather drenched Eel Marsh house, you feel the draft through the sashes, the creak of the house as it settles of an eve, and the cold finger of death reaching from the pages when she appears.

Just writing this makes me want to freak myself out again and reread it; brrrrrrh!

So, to conclude, buy a Susan Hill book, the Woman in Black if you like a good scare, but if not, Air & Angels for its poetic prose, Strange Meeting for its thought provoking subject, The Mist in the Mirror, if you like a chiller, but with so many others yet to read, I'm sure that whatever Susan Hill book you choose, you’ll go back for more.

Enjoy.

Duma Key, book review. (Stephen King)

Unlike Cell, which felt like a shortened version of a long story, Duma Key, felt like a longer version of a short story, something which is borne out by comments I have read on the internet.

Eddie Freemantle, is an ex-construction guy, who's lost an arm in an accident. He wakes up in a spiral of depression, beats his wife, who then files for divorce, and has an itching limb that no longer exists - something which I understand is true for some amputees.

So, on advice from friends and his doctor, Eddie make for Florida and ends up renting Salmon Point, (Big Pink), a large detached villa, with the most amazing views across the Gulf of Mexico.

To date, Eddie has no more than sketched a few doodles, but suddenly, and with great gusto, he begins to draw; an activity which brings him much relief.

He draws his daughter with the man she is engaged to, (even though he's never met him), he draws his old accountant, dead, calls his ex-wife and convinces her that he thinks the old boy is about to commit suicide, and saves his life. He draws his ex-wife's new flower tattoo, the one he's never seen, and he draws the face of a stranger, a man who's kidnapped and murdered a young girl, but he draws him without a nose or mouth, and the next day, said kidnapper has suffocated.

There's a lot of weird stuff going on in Duma Key, nothing more strange than the, ‘Girl in a Boat’ series of paintings, which have an uncanny resemblance to his youngest daughter, and seem to be drawing her ever closer to an old sailing boat in the distance.

I love the build-up in this book: Eddie gradually regaining his strength and purpose, the friendship that grows between him and his neighbour, (a stranger by the name of Wireman), who of course has secrets of his own, and Elizabeth, owner of Salmon Point.

Wireman is there to look after Elizabeth, the daughter of the man who used to own the whole island, and whose sister drowned, many, many years before. But there's a spirit on the island too, an evil spirit; a spirit that gives Eddie the ability to paint exquisite seascapes, to paint possible futures, but a spirit that could end up destroying everyone he loves, taking the island and much more with it.

A bit like in, ‘IT’, this spirit has been tackled before, but now, years, decades later, it is back and getting stronger, so, Eddie, Jack (Eddie's personal assistant), and Wireman must face it together.

There are some really good bit in this book: the early realisation that his drawings might be influencing real life, his relationship with his daughter and ex-wife, the art exhibition he's talked into putting on, and towards the end, the crocodile in the swimming pool incident, but overall, repetition start to creep in and spoils it a bit.
Not quite a four star book then, three and a half, but spooky enough in places to satisfy those that like a fright, and descriptive enough to make me feel like I'd been to the Florida Keys and that my arm was itching!

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse. A fantastic, moody and thoroughly entertaining read.

Labyrinth.

Worldwide best seller, the first of the trilogy that takes the reader from the twelfth century right through to the modern day, a TV mini-series and a tough act to follow, right? 

Well don't worry, because Kate Mosse has written another blinder. 

Set in the same southern French region as Labyrinth (I was lucky enough to holiday in Perpignan for a couple of years recently) The Winter Ghosts, charts the journey of a lost-sole as he meanders through life, looking for closure on his brother’s death in the Great War. 

Ten years have passed since he heard the news that his brother was gone and all is not well. We get flashbacks of our main character's mental state over those intervening years, and the book draws on the atmosphere of that sorrow and regret, expertly. I would read this book in my car at lunchtime, or in bed at night and feel the cold fear emanating from the pages, excellent work from Mosse. 

I won't put any spoilers in as I want to encourage you all to read this most excellent book and it's only short, so it won't take you long, but so worth it. 

I have Kate Mosse's Sepulchre and Citadel to dive into now, so I'll do just that and report back in due course with the results.

Inspiration for the day goes to all those who still fight for the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. (If you know or read Kate Mosse's work then you will know the connection, if you don't then grab one of her books and read, read, read. You won't be disappointed.)