Angel in Training

I’m going to do a few reviews of books that I’ve already read that I think are worth sharing, Angel in Training being one of them.

The book is the first in the Louisiangel Series, the second is also out now but I have yet to read it. It is written by C. L. Coffey who I had the pleasure of meeting at a book signing she did in Hull last summer. In conversation, Coffey revealed that she got the ideas for this book from a visit to America and experiencing their views on the religion/the afterlife, this is well evidenced in the book as is the devastating effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans. The place is brought to life in the book through the easy reading and descriptive style of the narrative.

I must admit, if I was to see this book on a shelf in a shop I probably would not have bought it. I usually read Historical fiction or typical ‘girly’ books, but this book truly gave meaning to the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’! I have read the Twilight books and the Harry Potter series so I do enjoy fantasy stories but I have never read one with as much realism as is injected into the story of Angel. I could not put this book down. It expertly mixes the element of fantasy with a main character who doesn’t even believe what’s happening in the story herself. This technique makes it very hard for the reader to be cynical about the extra ordinary happenings in the story line as it is already pointed out how farfetched and unbelievable it is, which leaves you questioning whether this could all actually be real (sounds extreme, but we’re all still secretly waiting for our Hogwarts letters with a ‘sorry it’s late’ note aren’t we?!).

The story follows Angel, a teenager from England who moves to New Orleans to live with her Aunt. When she is out one night on Bourbon street, she is ‘randomly’ attacked which results in a fatal stab wound. However, she wakes up and is greeted by a whole new life which involves characters we’ve all already heard of such as Cupid and Lucifer but brings them to life in a way you would never have imagined. I really don’t want to spoil this story, the book includes many exciting plot twists, whit, humour, sorrow, horror, anger and will have you on the edge of your seat, hungry for the next instalment. As soon as I finished it I emailed Cheryl asking when the next book was going to be released (as I said I haven’t yet read it, but such is a busy life and it is definitely on my ‘to read’ pile!).

Praise has to be given to Coffey’s imagination for the world she has created. The immense amount of detail and complicated- but easily understood- relationships and story lines in this book is stunning. All as well as the difficult aspect of using characters that some people already have familiarity with and may challenge their usual representations. It is also worth mentioning that Coffey did self-publish this novel and has worked extremely hard on every element of its success at only her personal cost so do give it a read, I promise you won’t regret it!

The Tea Planter’s Wife

I thought I would start with my most recently read book, The Tea Planter’s Wife. 

I got this book as a present for Christmas as my mum had heard it being reviewed on the radio and it was highly recommended. I have to admit, when I read the blurb I was ever so slightly dubious. I love history books, I am a history teacher so that’s kind of a given. However, I am a committed Victoria Hislop fan (posts about her books to follow), so I was doubtful about whether someone could write about the past in the incredible way she does which makes you feel like you’re there and you are living with the characters. I was proved wrong. Dinah Jeffries does this with such skill that I literally could not put the book down. I was reading it during break and lunch times at school, after I’d finished working in the evenings when I’d usually be watching T.V. whilst I was in the bath (which, weirdly, isn’t unusual for me, I often sit in the bath for hours on end and read, you should try it, it’s very relaxing) and when I got in bed.

Anyway, on to the book. The story follows Gwen, a young English woman who travels to Ceylon to live with her new husband Laurence on his tea plantation. The couple have only spent a week together since their marriage (of which her parents did not entirely approve due to Laurence being married before and being much older than Gwen) and do not know much about each other. Gwen knows that Laurence was previously married but does not know the fate of his late wife. This fate is alluded to in the prologue which is sent some 10 years before the start of the main story, but the reader does not see this connection until much later in the book. When Gwen falls pregnant, Laurence is delighted. However, she delivers early when the only other person in the house is the maid,  Naveena, and the doctor is unreachable. What Gwen does next leaves her paying a severe price for the rest of her life and she shares it, initially, with no one. That is one of the main features of this book that draws the reader in, the layers of secrets that are revealed throughout. The story is told in such a way that you know the characters are hiding something but you can’t quite put your finger on what it is (something that inevitably keeps you reading) and when the secrets are revealed, you are taken aback with shock. The book has a steady build up, always with enough story, as I said, to keep you reading but it is the end of the book that will pull you back down to earth and route you to the spot not letting you move until you have finished the book. I wrote on Twitter after I finished ‘It moved me beyond tears.’ Don’t get me wrong, I did cry, but there came to a point in the last few pages where my heart was bleeding so much for these characters that there was an actual ache in my chest. That is a powerful story.

Apart from the story of Gwen, Laurence, Fran, Savi, Christina, Naveena, Liyoni, Hugh, Verity and Mr McGregor and the day to day events in their lives that the book follows, it has deeper messages- bearing in mind that this side of the book includes a blossoming marriage with a somewhat secretly distant husband, a jealous sister in law, a wild cousin, an angry Scotsman, a scheming ex-lover and a house maid who knows much more than she will ever say. Being set in the interwar period in Asia, the book subtly hints at the aftermath of the First World War, has a firm touch on the Great Depression and the impact that had across the world, introduces the reader to social changes in advertising in America and the new opportunities that provided to companies and dives straight into race relations in Ceylon. The latter is done in a number of ways. Jeffries shows the reader how much influence racism has in the community through the potential problems it would cause Gwen and Laurence in their marriage. She also drip feeds racial issues into the book throughout, highlighting everything from subtle things such as the plantation workers not having adequate access to medicines to the larger issues in the community which caused riots such as which language should be taught in schools. This is a testament to the research Jeffries undertook for this book to be authentic and have a deeper political meaning, which, in my opinion it achieves perfectly as you are not slapped round the face with it but the way it is delivered makes you consider it as it impacts the life of the people who you come to care about so dearly.

It is hard to write a summary of a book without telling the story, I hope I have done that however. I don’t intent on spoiling these books for those of you who may want to go away and read them, just to make you want to do just that!

In this case, I sincerely hope that you do and that you enjoy it as much as I did. I went straight onto Amazon and ordered Jeffries’ second book The Separation which I have just started to read.

Until next time.

 

You know that feeling…

When you’ve finished an amazing book and you want to talk about it? You want to run up to the first person you see and yell ‘Can you believe that happened?!’ even though they have no idea what you’re talking about?

Then you know how I feel.

Recently I finished hands down the best book I have ever read (it took a LOT for Marley and Me off my top spot, but The Tea Planter’s Wife by Dinah Jeffries- post to follow- has done just that).

I finished the book and I wanted to discuss it, analyse it and debate it. But no one I know has read it. So, after telling my best friend and my mum that it had to be the next book they read, I decided to start writing book reviews/blog posts about the books that I read.

That way at least I have somewhere to write down my thoughts about them, and hopefully others who have also read them can comment and we can have a good old discussion!

My first post about The Tea Planters Wife will follow shortly so quick, go and read it!