Book review of Autumn Paths: An Anthology

Autumn Paths: An Anthology

Autumn Paths: An Anthology

 

Nine writers - Seasonal Collective - from both sides of the Atlantic, including best-selling and award-winning authors, have created this miscellany of stories.

 

These tales of family, mystery, intrigue, adventure, and suspense will take you across continents, through time and space in this world and others.  With a linking theme of autumn, discover new landscapes, encounter new and intriguing characters, uncover secrets and lies, and witness the resolution of old enmities.

 

Take the first step on this roller-coaster of an emotional journey, and you won't be disappointed.

 

Autumn Paths: An Anthology

My review

Having read and enjoyed novels and previous short stories from author Angela Wren, I was tempted by this collection, even though it I knew it was going to be something a little different from my usual reads and with only a small connection to France.

 

I love a good short story, one that draws me into its character’s lives immediately, gives me a mystery or some fast-paced action, and then ties up all the loose ends in a neat conclusion that leaves me satisfied. This collection might have deviated from my normal reads, but I enjoyed the variety of scenarios and plot twists. Each story introduced me to a different set of characters in a different location (including the life of a bookseller in France), as well as visiting different eras too. There were sad times and hardships, revenge and reconciliation, fantasy, history and so much more. Some of the stories left me wanting more, some let my mind wander as I imagined more, and one in particular left me with a huge grin on my face. 

I was right to take the chance on this book and found it refreshingly different. 

 

Autumn Paths would be a great choice if you are looking for a book that is easy to dip in and out of at the end of a busy day.

Autumn Paths: An Anthology blog tour

 

Purchase Links  

Amazon UK 

Amazon US 

Autumn Paths: An Anthology authors

 

Author Bios

Sandra Bunting

Sandra Bunting's publications include two books of short fiction, a poetry collection, a non-fiction book besides articles, poems and stories in numerous literary magazines. Sandra is on the editorial board of the Irish-based literary magazine, Crannóg, and worked at NUI Galway where she set up the Academic Writing Centre and taught Creative Writing and TEFL teacher training. Now living in Atlantic Canada, she is a member of The Writers Union of Canada, New Brunswick Writers Federation, Words on Water Miramichi, the Grand Barachois group Women Who Write and the Galway Writers' Workshop. 

http://www.sandbunting.com/

 

Pierre C Arseneault

The youngest of eleven children, Pierre C. Arseneault grew up in the small town of Rogersville New Brunswick. As a cartoonist, Pierre was published in over a dozen newspapers. As an author, he has five titles published so far: 

Dark Tales for Dark Nights (2013) 

Sleepless Nights (2014) 

Oakwood Island (2016) Poplar Falls – The Death of Charlie Baker (2019) Oakwood Island - The Awakening (2020) 

http://www.mysteriousink.ca/

 

Chuck Bowie

Chuck Bowie graduated from the University of New Brunswick in Canada with a Bachelor Degree in Science. His writing is influenced by the study of human nature and how people behave. Chuck loves food, wine, music and travel and all play a role in his work. His publisher has just launched his latest novel, set in Ireland and England, entitled Her Irish Boyfriend, fifth in the international suspense-thriller series: Donovan: Thief For Hire. He has just completed and published the second novel in a new cozy mystery series, set in a fictional town in New Brunswick, and is now finishing the follow-up in this series. - Chuck recently completed tenure on National Council of The Writers' Union of Canada; - Acted as Writer in Residence at Kingsbrae International Residence for the Arts, 2019; - Acknowledged as an author of note in the Miramichi Literary Trail installation, 2021. 

http://www.chuckbowie.ca/

 

Steve C Eston

Steve C. Eston always had a conflicting love for the fantastical and the scientific, which led him to write both fantasy and science-fiction. He has three published books: Deficiency (2020), The Conclave (2018) and The Burden of the Protector (2016). He also has several short stories available for free download on his website. He lives in Fredericton with his wife and children. 

http://www.sceston.ca/

 

Angela Wren

Angela Wren is an actor and director at a theatre in Yorkshire, UK. An avid reader, she has always loved stories of any description. She writes the Jacques Forêt crime novels set in France and is a contributing author to the Miss Moonshine anthologies. Her short stories vary between romance, memoir, mystery and historical. Angela has had two one-act plays recorded for local radio. 

http://www.angelawren.co.uk/

 

Monique Thébeau

Monique Thébeau is retired and lives in Riverview, New Brunswick. She has published a murder mystery In the Dark of Winter (which she is currently translating) and a French historical novel of her hometown, Saint-Louis-de-Kent. She is as passionate about building suspense in her stories as she is about gardening and being a grand-parent. 

http://www.moniquethebeau.com/

 

Jeremy Thomas Gilmer

Jeremy Thomas Gilmer is a writer of short fiction and nonfiction. He has been longlisted for the CBC Canada Writes Short Story Prize, won the inaugural Short Story Day Africa Flash Fiction Prize and was selected as the writer-in-residence at the KiRA residency in 2018. Jeremy is the Art and Literature editor-at-large for The East magazine. Gilmer has spent over twenty-five years as an Engineering Consultant on environmental, energy, and mining projects. Born in New Brunswick, Gilmer grew up in Nigeria, Northern Ireland, and Canada and has lived and worked in over forty countries. He splits his time between Eastern Canada and Brazil.

 

Allan Hudson

Allan Hudson was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. Growing up in South Branch he was encouraged to read from an early age by his mother who was a school teacher. He lives in Cocagne with his wife Gloria. He has enjoyed a lifetime of adventure, travel and uses the many experiences as ideas for his writing. He is an author of action/adventure novels, historical fiction and a short story collection. His short stories – The Ship Breakers & In the Abyss – received Honourable Mention in the New Brunswick Writer's Federation competition. He has stories published on commuterlit.com, The Golden Ratio and his blog - South Branch Scribbler. 

http://www.southbranchscribbler.ca/

 

Angella Cormier

Angella Cormier grew up in Saint Antoine, a small town in south east New Brunswick, Canada. This is where her love of reading and writing was born. Her curious nature about everything mysterious and paranormal helped carve the inspiration for her passion of writing horror and mystery stories. She is also a published poet, balancing out her writing to express herself in these two very opposing genres. Previous titles include: Oakwood Island - The Awakening (2020), Oakwood Island (2016), A Maiden's Perception - A collection of thoughts, reflections and poetry (2015) and Dark Tales for Dark Nights (2013, written as Angella Jacob). 

http://www.mysteriousink.com/

Book review Chateau des Corbeaux by Lise McClendon

Château des Corbeaux by Lise McClendon

Château des Corbeaux

 

Locations: Dordogne and Bordeaux

 

Lise McClendon has done it again. I can’t remember what year I read Blackbird Fly, book one in the Bennett Sisters series, but I can still recall where I sat and how much I enjoyed it. Every new book, and this one is number seventeen, deepens my relationship with Merle Bennett and her French partner Pascal d’Onscon, as well as leaving me wanting more.

 

As Pascal nears his 50^th birthday, life is getting him down. He loves his job as wine fraud investigator but detests that he is now more office based than out in the field. The tiny rented flat close to his office in Bordeaux holds no appeal, but neither does the alternative of leaving Merle alone during the week, in her cottage in a bastide town in the Dordogne. His dream of growing his own grapes and making his own wine seems impossible, but driving between Bordeaux and Merle, he can’t help but be drawn to one vineyard in particular, Château des Corbeaux. 

 

Life is never dull for Merle and Pascal, there is always something cropping up in their personal lives that overlaps somewhat with Pascal’s work. When trouble hits the British owners of Château des Corbeaux, they might just need Merle and Pascal’s assistance to unravel a mystery, right a wrong and save the vines.

 

Pascal and Merle now feel like good friends, and I enjoy every page back in their company, sharing a chilled glass of rosé or a meal cooked by Merle, as well as seeing France through their eyes. I love the little nuances of ‘real’ France and French ways that Lise weaves into the storyline, giving her books a rounded sense of place. I feel I am there, with someone who has a deep understanding of how things tick in France. 

 

Travelling to France with Lise is more than just reading a romantically penned location in a novel.

 

I can’t wait to join Merle and Pascale for more adventures again soon. If you enjoy a good mystery with lots of delicious food and wine on the side, I’m sure you would love Château des Corbeaux, or any of the Bennett Sisters books. You can read more about the books in this series on Lise’s website here or follow her on Facebook here. 

 

 

Counting chickens and other census fun

Some of the residents of the village free range egg farm

Counting chickens

I’m just over halfway through census month, attempting to count how many of the 235 houses in the village are lived in full time and how many people live in them. I have made countless tours around the commune, on weekdays, weekends and at different times of the day (clocking up over 150km on my bike), speaking to as many people as possible and leaving gentle reminders. After an initial flurry of online responses, and several requests for the paper versions, I’m pleased to say only 10% of households have yet to respond. I now seem to have reached the point however, where it might be easier to individually count the 9000 chickens at the organic free range egg farm, than get the remaining households to fill in their forms. 

 

We are an international community, and the census applies to everyone who is a permanent resident, whatever their nationality, family situation or employment status, and whether they rent or own their property. I’m happy to report my fellow Brits have all been accounted for, requiring very little hassling. The Romanian builders who share a rented house were polite and welcoming, and thanks to a Romanian translation available from the national statistics office, all filled out their forms with no issues. Many of the older residents have been happy just to see someone at their door and have taken the time to spell out their names in slow, careful French (like you would when talking to a child) so I could fill in their forms for them. 

 

The ones I’m having a hassle with are the younger French families. Time and again I’m hearing the same story, “I work, I have children and I don’t have time to fill it in”. It takes about five minutes per person and another five minutes to complete the details about the house, and is carried out every five years. If they chose the online option, it can be done any time, not there and then when I knock at their door, which I appreciate might be an inconvenient time. Many of these families have children under ten who benefit from a gift from Père Noel every Christmas. The commune spend 25€ on each child and the shopping and delivering is all organised by a team of volunteers. One of the benefits of counting as many people as possible is that the more inhabitants we have, the more funding we will get from the State, so the more money we will have to spend in the commune budget. Can you tell that their apathy is beginning to irritate me slightly?

Our team of volunteers enjoying delivering the Christmas gifts

 

In the UK it is a legal requirement to complete the census and non-compliance carries a fine of up to £1000. In France it is obligatoire (obligatory), but I’ve yet to find out what (if any) the penalties are for those ‘who are too busy’. What about where you live, is there a census and is it compulsory to complete it?

 

For the next ten days, I will keep knocking, and reminding, and can only hope those who have promised me they will complete the form online, will remember to do so.

 

The official village nosey parker

Poking around the hidden corners of the village

The official village nosey parker

In the last ten days, I’ve covered over one hundred kilometres on my bike just noseying around our commune. In addition to the main village where the Mairie is situated, the commune is a collection of six small hamlets, with over two hundred properties, covering an area just over twenty kilometres squared. 

 

I’ve poked my nose into gardens, driveways and narrow lanes I’ve never before noticed. I’ve peered into letterboxes, noted whether shutters are always closed and whether cars come and go. In short, I’ve been a real village nosey parker. I’ve rung doorbells, knocked on doors and been welcomed into stranger’s homes - surprisingly often by dressing gown clad mamies and papis. I’ve met new people, caught up with those I’ve not spoken to in a while and shared a smile and a chat with those who don’t see many visitors. Welcome to the world of the census agent.

 

Recensement de la population - 2022

In France, the census is carried out on a rolling five-year basis, with different communes of under 10,000 residents being counted each year. For the larger towns and cities, a percentage of the districts are counted each year and the data extrapolated. 

 

My friend, and local author, Alison Morton, who is more knowledgeable on the Romans than the Romans, has this to say on the history of the census, which she’s kindly let me share:

 

The censor in Ancient Rome was a magistrate responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances.

 

The power of the censor was absolute: no magistrate could oppose his decisions, and only another censor who succeeded him could cancel those decisions. The censor's regulation of public morality is the origin of the modern meaning of the words censor and censorship.

 

This might have made me feel rather important if it weren’t for the reality check of knocking on doors and trying to drum up enthusiasm for the occupant to fill in their census forms. This is the fourth census since we’ve lived here, and I think it says something that I am the fourth different person to be the census agent. This year, INSEE (French national statistics office) are encouraging those who can, to fill in their questionnaires online, thus reducing the contact risk of the agent having to sit at every kitchen table as forms are completed. While I am enjoying the social contact and organisational aspect of the role, I have to admit my covid contamination riskometer is being tested to its limits and my smile has sometimes slipped behind my mask. 

 

The census runs from 20^th January to 19^th February and to date, I’ve had a response rate of just over 50%. There are 18% of houses that are empty or second homes, which aren’t counted, and I’m still waiting for the remaining 30% to reply. I’ve certainly had more warm welcomes from the older people and more empty promises to fill in the online questionnaires from the younger residents. I also noticed that it was those who are recent arrivals to the village who were among the first to respond. 

 

Have you seen this Ewok?

My reputation as the funny (mad) Englishwoman on her bike has been reinforced and I must look quite a sight at their door hidden beneath a cycle helmet with fleecy under hat, mask and cosy coat, juggling gloves, pens, glasses and my bright red clipboard. Some days the temperature hasn’t risen above -3ºc and even with two pairs of gloves, my fingers have been like blocks of ice. January seems a cruel month to hold the census and it could be a long three weeks until it comes to an end.

 

When your commune holds its census, please spare a thought for the census agent and fill in your form online. It’s easy to do and really doesn’t take too much time. The more people counted, the more money your commune will receive from the State, so the healthier the budget the council have to work with. Thank you.

 

You might enjoy checking out some of Alison Morton’s books, so I’ve added their Amazon links to the bottom of this post.

 

From the Writing Desk my interview with Alison Morton 

Book review of Tree Sacrifice by Harriet Springbett

Tree Sacrifice by Harriet Springbett

Tree Sacrifice by Harriet Springbett

 

A suicide pact. A new responsibility. A desperate bid for harmony. 

 

As Rainbow leaves Brocéliande forest after the events of Tree Slayer, she learns that a much greater challenge faces her. Exasperated by mankind's disrespect for trees, the One Tree has set a terrible event into motion. Rainbow is strictly forbidden from intervening, but thousands of trees across France could die unless she does so. 

 

Her search for guidance will take her to England, where a startling discovery makes sense of her gift and opens new perspectives. She must take the hardest decision of her life. But will her and Eole's sacrifices be enough to save the French forests? 

 

Unknown to Rainbow, help is close by. But it lies in a different world, a parallel world where mankind lives in unity with trees. There, Druana must decide whether she's prepared to risk everything to rebalance her world. 

 

Will Druana and Rainbow ever meet? What would be the cost? For everything gained, something must be lost. 

 

My review

It was a delight to be back with Rainbow and Eole in the third, and final, step of their mission to save the trees of France and fight for a world where humans can live without destroying trees. Many things have changed since we left them in Tree Slayer, for Rainbow, for Eole, and in their lives outside of their special tree partnership. Rainbow needs to learn to prioritise the tasks ahead of her, as well as learn the importance of patience. Eole is struggling to understand where he fits in. Despite nothing seeming to go to plan, Rainbow and Eole are a good team who balance each other well, something that is tested in this book more than in the last book.

 

This might not be a book written for adults, but there was plenty to keep my interest and keep me guessing as to how it would end. It deals well with complex adolescence emotions and relationships, as well as decision making and responsibility, along with an engaging storyline that touched my tree soul. There were so many little details that I loved in this book from Druana sinking her bare feet into the soil and connecting with the tree roots, to Rainbow’s sense of calm and peace as she melts into the trunk of a tree. I might even have detected a bit of inner jealousy as I was reading.

 

This is a book to make you think about trees and our relationship with them. It’s as refreshing as time spent in a forest glade watching the patterns as the leaves dance in the sunlight and feeling the breeze on your face. If you are anything like me, you’ll want to hug the next magnificent tree you come across. I’ve even been looking up Brocéliande (a Brittany forest full of myth and legend) and I hope one day to cycle my bike there and feel a little of the tree magic Harriet has created in this series. 

Brocéliande Forest, Brittany

 

This is the third and final book in the series and although I am sad I won’t get to visit Rainbow again, it came to natural end I was happy with. Sometimes if we feel we don’t belong, it’s not that we are odd, just that we haven’t found the right people to hang around with. I’d love for this book to become the book to read for teenagers (think Harry Potter but with so much more than just magic), who then go on to set up their own TreeWise associations, following Rainbow’s lead to save our trees and planet.

 

The young adult genre might not be your usual read, but I’d encourage you to read the Tree Magic trilogy and share it with the young people in your life.

 

You can read my reviews of books one and two by clicking on the links here:

 

Book review of Tree Magic

Book review of Tree Slayer

 

Purchase Links  

Author Bio

Although Harriet Springbett always wrote stories in her West Dorset home, she qualified and worked as an engineer. During a Raleigh International expedition in Chile she realised writing and discovering life were more important to her than her career. She moved to France, where she studied French at Pau University and then worked as a project manager, feature writer, translator and TEFL teacher. She now lives in Poitou-Charentes with her French partner and their teenage children.

 

Since her first literary success, aged 10, her short stories and poetry have been published in literary journals and placed in writing competitions, including a shortlisting in the renowned Bath Short Story Award. She leads writing workshops, has judged the Segora international short story competition and blogs (very irregularly). Her publisher, Impress Books, now has 3 of her novels and she’s working on her fourth.

 

Author Social Media 

 

Blog 

Facebook 

Twitter 

 

Video interview about the series 

 

You might also like to read my France et Moi interview with Harriet here.

Winter warmers

Wrapped up warm on a winter bike ride

I’m with Ovo

If I mention UK news headlines this week and the phrases ‘embarrassing’, ‘poorly judged and unhelpful’, you might think I’d be referring to Boris’s ‘bring your own booze’ garden party, but you’d be wrong. The less said about that clown the better.

 

Ovo Energy, a UK based energy supplier, have also been in the news for a ‘keeping warm without upping your heating’ blog post, that they have now withdrawn. Their novel ideas included, putting on another jumper, eating porridge, doing the housework, hugging a pet or hula hooping with your kids. Well, no shit sherlock, this isn’t news - my wise old Dad said pretty much the same thing forty years ago, whenever I complained my bedroom was too cold. It was either “put another jumper on”, or “get outside and rake up some leaves, that will warm you up”.

 

Obviously, as a teenager I wasn’t interested in listening and I certainly wasn’t interested in moving my body to create heat. Back then I was much more into reading and complaining than exercising. Moving to a large, draughty house with a cantankerous old boiler, combined with the reality that France did get cold in the winter, meant I soon remembered Dad’s words and learned how to keep warm. If we heated our house to a constant 20º, not only would it cost many more thousands of euros than we have, but with only two of us floating around, mainly using one or two rooms at a time, it would be ever so wasteful. I don’t do wasteful. Most of what Ovo wrote in their blog, I’ve been practicing and writing about for many winters.

Hug a pet - Mini turns 14

 

Layer like an onion 

I am never to be found without a vest from October to May, and for most of the really cold months, I’ll wear a vest under a thermal long-sleeved vest and any number of additional layers on top, all carefully tucked in. Exciting editions to our wardrobe this season include fleecy lined walking trousers, from sports chain Decathlon, ideal for those extreme randonées with a wind chill well into the -ºc’s. Obviously, with Mini having celebrated her fourteenth birthday this week (that’s about 103 in equivalent years), if it’s that cold outside, we won’t be out walking, but these new buys have ensured we’ve kept warm indoors. Combined with the thermal socks (from Decathlon again) tucked into my fur-lined boot/slippers, my toes are toasty and I’ve no need for any E.On Energy socks – another UK news oops this weekend (it must be the week for it).

Winter vegetable soup

 

Porridge and soup 

I have been writing a regular five-hundred-word article for The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, a local English language magazine, for ten years now and looking back in my archives to January 2013, I was singing the praises of what I called ‘porridge and soup’ season.

 

“Winter has arrived, the days are short, the trees are bare and the temperatures have plummeted, but am I down? Well sometimes, I have to admit, yes, I am. It is at this time of year that my thoughts turn to comfort food. Gone are the vibrant coloured salads of summer that cheered up my plates with home grown delights but have no fear for we have arrived at what I call ‘porridge and soup’ season.”

 

Winter food should be different from summer food, that is the beauty of eating seasonally. The vegetables available now are perfect for thick soups made with homemade pork broth and warming curry spices, that put a fire in my belly all afternoon. Porridge oats are another favourite for us and I’m sure anyone who grew up in 1980’s Britain must remember the Ready Brek (finely milled porridge oat cereal) advert? Who didn’t want a warm orange glow around them as they walked to school on a cold and frosty morning?

Trying out my Hula Hoop for the first time in 2020

 

Hula hooping

In March 2020, just before you-know-what hit us, my Deux-Sèvres Monthly article was all about ‘hoop and soup’.

“Always happy to find a healthy distraction from the mundane monotony of life, I’ve got a new exercise obsession. Thanks to a couple of nutty friends, I am now the proud owner of a hefty hula hoop, and when I say hefty, I mean 1.2kg of weighty hoop that massages you (think thumps) as it rolls around. Once you have mastered the moves and get past the awkward stage where you look like you’ve stuck your fingers in a plug socket, it’s a really fun way to exercise.” 

Ovo are right, it's also a great way of keeping warm and I often use it as a pre-yoga warm up over winter. Our other top tip for keeping warm is to get out on the bikes. Even if I get home with cold, red cheeks and nose, the rest of me is nice and warm whatever the temperature outside, and the colours on crisp winter sunset bike rides are a tonic for the mind as well as the body.

 

If there is one thing I could have told my younger self, it would be ‘to be more active’, so I’m with Ovo and agree with what they were saying, even if they maybe could have phrased things better. Another positive of these ideas is Susie Kelly’s Best Foot Forward, one of the first books I read and reviewed on the blog and her story of a long-distance walk from La Rochelle to Geneva, inspired by the need to move to keep warm during cold French winters. To think this book wouldn’t have existed if she’d just turned up her heating, is quite sad.

A chilly morning view from the orchard

 

Temperatures have been below 0ºc these last few days, with crisp clear nights, heavy frosts and sunny days, but I’d much rather this than warmer, wetter weather.  

One week in, counting my hats and blessings, among other things

Silly hats for story time 

One week in, counting my hats and blessings, among other things

 

If you told me it was the 29^th January today, I’d have believed you, as it’s been so busy, I can’t believe the new year is only just over a week old.

 

I do love a hat (as these silly photos from the library last year show) and I seem to have worn many different ones this week, the first one being my accountant hat. This is not one I feel overly comfortable wearing these days, but one I have to dust off each quarter end to prepare the company figures for our French accountant. I’m pleased to say it’s almost ready to go back into its hat box once again. 

My bear hunt story time hat

On Tuesday I got to put my full-time Mum hat back on as Ed came home to spend the week with us. This hat is one of my old favourites, slightly weathered and worn in places but always a pleasure to wear. I have to admit though, it slipped slightly yesterday, as when Ed left to go back to Poitiers, I packed him off with lots of fresh vegetables and some sensible tins, but totally forgot the galette des rois that I’d bought for him and Pearl. This frangipane filled, puff pastry delight, eaten in France for the Epiphany is always a family favourite here.

 

On Wednesday and Thursday, it put a big smile on my face to wear my village volunteer hat once again, as it hasn’t had much use since Covid-19 hit. It was my turn to open the library on Wednesday, where I also trialled a French vocab session with an English friend, and on Thursday our little team folded, stapled and delivered the first village magazine of the year.

 

My Queen's story time hat

On Friday it was the turn of my supportive wife (and translator) hat as Adrian had his first outpatient cardiologist appointment, following his week in hospital last year. With the current Covid-19 situation being seriously scary here in France, we weren’t sure I would be allowed to accompany him in, but aside from scanning our vaccinations certificates at the main door, there were no restrictions. This was just as well as I also have a Niort hospital tour guide hat, so knew exactly where we needed to be, which was more than he did. I had all the paperwork ready and did most of the talking, right up to delivering him safely to the nurse and cardiologist who would supervise his bike stress test. I then sat outside and lost myself in an adventure book (cycling in the Pyrenees) while he pedalled away as if his life depended on it. 

 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, cycling doesn’t stress Adrian out, it relaxes him, so it was no surprise to be called back in and told to take him home and not to bring him back. They had never seen anyone produce such high numbers, or be in such good physical shape, and the cardiologist has cancelled his follow-up appointment that was scheduled for later this month and doesn’t want to see him again. This was brilliant news to start the new year with. I’m used to hospital visits as a translator, but it’s been quite a different experience with it being for Adrian, so I’m happy to leave that hat to one side for now.

 

My clowning around story time hat

I’ve also been fitted for a brand new hat this week, my census agent hat. In France, all communes of under ten thousand habitants carry out a census every five years and employ an agent to ensure all the households get the information required to complete the questionnaire. I’ve attended my first training session and started making my way, by bike, around all the roads in the village, checking off house numbers and letterboxes on my list. The great thing about the census this year is that for the majority of households, all that will be required of me is to drop their unique access code in their letterbox later on this month. The only direct contact will be with those who don’t respond in the allowed time, or those who can’t use the online system. This will be the first time a census has been carried out since Covid-19, so minimising the amount of contact, will reduce the risk to us all. This new hat seems to fit quite nicely and is turning out to be an interesting one to wear.

 

My cycling helmet (with warm hat underneath)

Then there is my trusty cycling helmet that has accompanied me to the Mairie, to the library and around the village whilst counting houses. I never go out on the bike without it, even if it is only a few kilometres around the village, which is about all I’ve managed each day as there has been so much going on.

 

With a new mini-job to keep me out of trouble, an unexpected week with Ed and a healthy husband, it’s been a good start to the year. 

 

Do you have a favourite hat you like to wear? 

Book review of The Woman Who Came Back to Life by Beth Miller

The Woman Who Came Back to Life by Beth Miller

The Woman Who Came Back to Life by Beth Miller

 

It’s never too late for a second chance at happiness…

Pearl Flowers has been hiding away for so long that she has forgotten what real life is like. Her quiet routine in a woodland cottage in France is a sanctuary, far away from her past life running a beauty salon. But even when she is sitting at the foot of a beech tree with her drawing pad, surrounded by birdsong, her mind is never still. If she keeps herself distracted and far away, her past can’t hurt her… can it?

But then an unexpected phone call throws her calm world into chaos. Back in the UK, her estranged father Francis is dying. She hasn’t seen him for decades since he pushed her away and destroyed their family. And on his death-bed, Francis leaves her a gift – a diary, written in a code that only Pearl can understand.

As she begins to read her father’s diary, Pearl discovers that for forty years he had been thinking of her almost every day. And as she reads on, secrets begin to emerge from the pages causing her to question everything she thought she knew.

Reeling from the diary’s revelations, Pearl realises that the only way to heal and find true happiness is to face the past. But is she ready to confront her deepest secret, the one she’s been running from all this time?

This utterly tear-jerking and heartwarming novel is for anyone who knows it’s never too late to find happiness. Fans of Matt Haig, Mike Gayle and Camille Pagán will fall in love with this beautiful, feel-good story.

 

The Woman Who Came Back to Life 

 

My review

Families can be strange things and often when upsets occur, everyone has their own feelings on who is right, and who is in the wrong, that ricochet through the generations. Pearl is about to discover that even when it’s too late to talk in person, and even after decades of hurt, things can change, if you are open to those changes.

 

The raw emotions that Pearl experiences as she relives past traumas through her late father’s diaries, felt very real as I read it. It took bravery to open these old wounds, but with it came a different understanding of the hurt and pain she’d carried with her for her adult life. 

 

This is a book that is packed full of difficult family situations, for so many of the characters, from divorce, loss and adoption, to forgiveness, reconciliation and love. My emotions were all over the place. With the sadness and upsetting situations, this wasn’t a book that raised my spirits, but it was one that made me think about relationships and how we treat those around us. It is also a cleverly crafted journey of recovery, where understanding and forgiveness lead the characters on to new beginnings. 

 

Like Pearl, I’m happy to shut myself away in my French hideaway, but this book has highlighted the importance of extended family and the sad fact that since Covid-19, we’ve missed out on seeing our families in the UK. I found it a complex and compelling read, and once I’d started it, I had to know how it would end. It was also one of those unusual books where I couldn’t second guess where it was going to take me, and it was certainly different from many of the books I usually read.

 

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Beth Miller

Author Bio

 

I have been told that I write like a tall blonde, so that's how I'd like you to picture me.

 

I've published five novels. The most recent, 'Starstruck', came out in August 2021. The previous one, 'The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright', was a top twenty Kindle bestseller. I've also published two non-fiction books. I work as a book coach and creative writing tutor.

 

Before writing books, I did a lot of different jobs. I worked in schools, shops, offices, hospitals, students' unions, basements, from home, in my car, and up a tree. OK, not up a tree. I've been a sexual health trainer, a journalist, a psychology lecturer, a PhD student, a lousy alcohol counsellor, and an inept audio-typist. I sold pens, bread, and condoms. Not in the same shop. I taught parents how to tell if their teenagers are taking drugs (clue: they act like teenagers), and taught teenagers how to put on condoms (clue: there won't really be a cucumber). I taught rabbis how to tell if their teenagers are druggedly putting condoms on cucumbers.

 

Throughout this, I always wrote, and always drank a lot of tea. I'm now pretty much unbeatable at drinking tea.

 

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