Book Review: Making Trouble - Tongued with Fire by Sue Ingleton

Making Trouble - Tongued with Fire

by

Sue Ingleton

Publisher: Spinifex Press
Publication Date: 1st August 2019
Pages: 256
Format  read: Paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

In the winter of 1875, two rebellious spirits travel from England to Australia. Harriet Rowell (age 22) and Alice Moon (age 18) were champion swimmers in a time when women didn’t go into the sea; and they were in love in a time when many women were in love with each other but held such love secretly. Harriet and Alice took on the world at a dangerous time for women’s freedom of expression, but their love ended when Alice moved to Sydney to become a writer.

Before Harriet can get over her grief from the breakup, tragedy strikes; Alice is found dead in her bed at thirty-seven. Suspicions rest upon the powerful, chauvinistic scientist, John McGarvie Smith, with whom Alice had been working in her newfound capacity as a journalist. This book seeks to uncover the truth of Alice’s death and seek justice.  

Making Trouble – Tongued with Fire is the imagined history of Harriet Elphinstone Dick and Alice C Moon.

Sue Ingleton has undertaken extensive research to compile this story however there are many aspects of these women’s lives that must be assumed or created as there is very little written communication available. Ingleton uses travel records, newspaper clippings and death certificates to validate her story.

Harriet, born in England in 1852, is a woman ahead of her time. She believed that women weren’t weak and feeble minded, as men would have them believe, and given the chance could be just as athletic as men. She was to become a great swimmer often competing in races against men.

In 1876 Harriet migrates to Australia, the land of opportunity, with partner Alice Moon. Alice was quick-witted, outspoken and bold. She loved a challenge. Harriet was more level headed, discrete and diplomatic.

The two women opened women’s gymnasiums in Australia and took their exercise programs to girls’ schools. Their aim was to bring the health that came with rural activity to women in the city.

I was fascinated by this story of two little known women who made such great inroads into women’s health and fitness and also women’s rights in Australia.

The author narrates the story more like a fictional tale than a biography bringing the reader right into the home, and daily life, of these women.

The story moves from Melbourne to Sydney and the two women have quite a list of remarkable achievements with a shadow hanging over Alice Moon’s untimely death.

Recommended for anyone who is interested in learning more about the women who pioneered our health and fitness regime and pushed for women’s rights.

On a side note, I don't think the cover or title give the book justice as this truly is an engaging read and extremely well written. I honestly think if I saw this on a shelf I would pass it up so I am immensely grateful for the publishers giving me the opportunity to read this amazing story.

                               🌟🌟🌟🌟

 My rating   4/5 

photo credit: Spinifex Press

Sue Ingleton is a multi-award winning actor, director, writer and stand-up comedian. 

Sue is a recipient of the Sydney Myer Individual Performing Arts Award, the Gloria Dawn/Gloria Payten Award, a Perrier Award Nomination at Edinburgh Fringe, and has performed at Adelaide International Festival of Arts, Montreal Juste Pour Rire, Festival of Fools UK, many Melbourne International Comedy Festivals, and New York International Theatre Festival. 

She has written and produced eleven plays, written two books and is in three published short story anthologies. 

Spotlight: Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom

Three Ways to Disappear

by

Katy Yocom

HUNTING FOR CONNECTION, HAUNTED BY LOSS: IN DEBUT NOVEL, HUMANS—AND TIGERS—STRIVE TO CONNECT AND STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN A CONFLICTED NATURAL WORLD 

Publisher: Ashland Creek Press 
Publication date: 16th July 2019
Sub genre: EcoFiction 
Pages: 300
RRP: $18.95 USD

Leaving behind a nomadic and dangerous career as a journalist, Sarah DeVaughan returns to India, the country of her childhood and a place of unspeakable family tragedy, to help preserve the endangered Bengal tigers. Meanwhile, at home in Kentucky, her sister, Quinn--also deeply scarred by the past and herself a keeper of secrets--tries to support her sister, even as she fears that India will be Sarah's undoing.

As Sarah faces challenges in her new job--made complicated by complex local politics and a forbidden love--Quinn copes with their mother's refusal to talk about the past, her son's life-threatening illness, and her own increasingly troubled marriage. When Sarah asks Quinn to join her in India, Quinn realizes that the only way to overcome the past is to return to it, and it is in this place of stunning natural beauty and hidden danger that the sisters can finally understand the ways in which their family has disappeared--from their shared history, from one another--and recognize that they may need to risk everything to find themselves again.

With dramatic urgency, a powerful sense of place, and a beautifully rendered cast of characters revealing a deep understanding of human nature in all its flawed glory, Katy Yocom has created an unforgettable novel about saving all that is precious, from endangered species to the indelible bonds among family.

Praise for Three Ways to Disappear: 

“Sensual and sensory, lush with longing, Three Ways to Disappear is an assured and lovely debut novel.  You'll find yourself luxuriating in its language and carried away by its complex and endearing characters.  There isn't one wasted word, and I loved them all”  -- Silas House, author of Southernmost  

What is Ecofiction?

Ecofiction is fiction with a conscience.
Also known as eco-literature, these books range from mysteries to thrillers, yet they all share strong environmental themes.

As a child, I was fascinated with big cats of all types. I thought I outgrew that fascination, but when a tigress at the Louisville Zoo gave birth to a litter of cubs, I instantly fell in love, visited frequently, and watched them grow up,” Yocom says of her inspiration for the novel. “I knew that in the wild, tigers face long odds, and the complexity of the human-tiger relationship captured my imagination. I’ve always been drawn to stories confronting the big questions: life, death, how we carry on in the face of loss, what it means to be truly connected to someone, and what it takes to heal broken relationships.



 


 

Book Review & Book Bingo - Round 15: The Invention of Wings (Historical Fiction)

Book Bingo is a reading challenge hosted by Theresa Smith Writes , Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse. Every second Saturday, book bingo participants reveal which bingo category they have read and what book they chose. 

This week I have chosen the category 'A book written by an author over 65'.

Book written by an author over age 65.

The Invention of Wings 

by Sue Monk Kidd 

(born August 12th 1948)

 

Publisher: Tinder Press 

Publication date:7th January 2014

Pages: 373

Format read: paperback

Source: own read

Sarah Grimke is the middle daughter. The one her mother calls 'difficult' and her father calls 'remarkable'. On Sarah's eleventh birthday, Hetty 'Handful' Grimke is taken from the slave quarters she shares with her mother, wrapped in lavender ribbons, and presented to Sarah as a gift.

Sarah knows that what she does next will unleash a world of trouble. She also knows that she cannot accept control over another human's life as a birthday gift. And so, indeed, the trouble begins ...

A powerful, sweeping novel, inspired by real events, and set in the American Deep South of the early nineteenth century, THE INVENTION OF WINGS evokes a world of shocking contrasts, of beauty and ugliness, and of righteous people living daily with cruelty they fail to recognise. Above all, it celebrates the power of friendship and sisterhood against all the odds.  

The Invention of Wings is a fictionalised tale of Sarah & Angelina Gimke. Sue Monk Kidd drew inspiration from the sisters real-life exploits, grafting fiction into truth to tell their story.

These two women were the first female abolition agents. Sarah was the first woman in the United States to write a comprehensive feminist manifesto, and Angelina was the first woman to speak before a legislative body. They not only paved the way for the abolition of slavery but also made inroads into women’s rights.

There was quite a lot of hype when The Invention of Wings was published and I’d read a lot of glowing reviews with words like heart-breaking, powerful and disturbing so I was expecting an emotional read. However I was quite underwhelmed. The emotion was missing and the significant attention to the development of the main characters pulled away from the main topic of the story; the harsh treatment of slaves and their right to freedom. I felt a lot of the atrocities, the fear, hunger, diseases, cold, brutal treatment and rape, were dulled down.

The story is told from the point of view of Sarah Gimke and Handful, a young slave girl, given to Sarah for her 11^th birthday.

I tried to put myself in Sarah’s shoes; a female from a white aristocratic family. What would I do?

I can never in anyway imagine myself in Handful’s shoes – being owned and having no rights what-so-ever.

The Invention of Wings was a solemn tale, a major part of American history. It is a story of standing up for what you believe and speaking out, but ultimately a story of hope.

🌟🌟🌟

 My rating   3/5

#BookBingo2019

  

Mailbox Monday - July 15th

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog. Head over and check out other books received during the last week. 


Happy Monday!

It's going to be a quick update this week as things have been busy in the Burgeoning Bookshelf's household.
I had a special Nana day with Ditto. Every few weeks I just take one grandchild out to get some special one on one attention. This time it was Ditto's turn. We went on an adventure to the local wildlife park. It was the perfect venue for him as the animals are used to kids and there was plenty of room for him to run and run ( and he did plenty of that). 
I've also been out to dinner with a friend that just returned from a three month cruise (just imagine the luxury of that) and my usual shopping days with my daughters.
Ditto celebrated his third birthday this week so we took him on a train ride. He held on tight as the train took off and exclaimed "wow" and "cool".
Yesterday was a beautiful sunny winter's day and we went on a family picnic. Then home for cake for Ditto's birthday. 

Books  received during the past week.

  
Tidelands by Philippa Gregory
Publication date: 20th August 2019


England 1648. A dangerous time for a woman to be different . . .

Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of a civil war between renegade King and rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands – the marshy landscape of the south coast.

Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead, she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life.

Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbors. This is the time of witch-mania, and Alinor, a woman without a husband, skilled with herbs, suddenly enriched, arouses envy in her rivals and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take lethal action into their own hands.

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
Publication date: 7th may 2019

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.

As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.

 

What Books did your postman deliver, or you downloaded, this week?

Post a link to your Mailbox Monday or simply list your books in the comments below.

 

 

   

 

Storybook Corner Book Review: Don't Let the Beasties Escape This Book (Children's Picture Book)

Don't Let the Beasties Escape This Book

by

Julie Berry

Illustrated by April Lee

Publisher: Getty Publications
Expected Publication date: 10th September 2019
Pages: 36
RRP: $17.99US
Format read: Hardcover
Source:  Courtesy of the publisher

Beware strange and magical things can happen when you peek inside a Book of Beasts.

Young Godfrey and his family toil for the lord and lady of the castle. But  when Godfrey stumbles upon an unfinished Book of Beasts, it's spectacular pictures of animals make him forget his chores. He invents the story of a brave knight, Sir Godfrey the Glorious, who battles ferocious creatures.

But who's doing the work while Godfrey daydreams? Who feeds the chickens, spreads the straw, harvests the pears, rakes the leaves and sets the supper fire ablaze?

Julie Berry takes us into the heart of thirteenth century medieval England where young Godfrey sits in the yard surrounded by the castle walls. His mother, a maidservant, tells him he will need to help out with chores. Godfrey is known to forget his chores while he drifts off into his own imaginative world with the noble knight Sir Godfrey.

An artist is in residence painting a Book of Beasts for the lady of the castle. Godfrey spies the book and decides to look through the paintings as he tells a fanciful story about the beasts in the book and how his imaginary Sir Godfrey battles them. It just so happens this is a magical book and when Godfrey names the beasts (lion, unicorn, dragon etc) they come to life from the pages. As Godfrey continues his story each beast escapes and gets up to mischief behind Godfrey’s back. As they play they inadvertently complete Godfrey’s chores for him.

The story ends with all the beasts hiding in Godfrey’s home until the artist comes and zaps them all back into the book.

This is the most adorable introduction to medieval beasts I have seen. It arrived in my mail box at a very fortuitous time as Dot, who generally loves all things scary, has recently become concerned about monsters being real. Reading Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book was the perfect opportunity to explain how these beasts were made up from people’s imagination and altered information. There was no internet back then and a lot of people couldn’t read or have the opportunity to travel so it is easy to see how a sighting of a rhinoceros in Africa could morph into a Unicorn by the time the news got back to England.

The story portrays the beasts in a fun and whimsical way as they get up to mischief behind Godfrey’s back. The illustrations are a story within themselves and bring a new element of entertainment to the story as we see the yard animals reactions to the beasts arrival.

I would recommend this book for any child 3+years. Dot was enthralled by the whole story whilst Jay age 3 was more interested in the vivid illustrations and loved the hide and seek with the beasties at the end.

The book also contains engaging backmatter with information on life in the Middle Ages and a mini-bestiary drawn from original 13^th Century manuscripts along with typical legends and lore.

A big thank you to Getty Publications for my hardback copy.  I am sure this will become a treasured addition to our home library.

                             🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 

 Rated by Dot & Jay   5/5

After my fourth son was born, I decided that since my family dreams were now well underway, it was time to pursue writing novels. I went back to school and earned an M.F.A. in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of the Fine Arts, where I learned from many talented and committed writers for young people. My first novel for young readers was published in 2009.  All the Truth That’s In Me, my first YA novel, was named a 2013 Horn Book Fanfare title, a School Library Journal Best of 2013 book, and a Kirkus Best Teen Read for 2013. It has been named a Junior Library Guild Selection and has been nominated for a Carnegie Medal and a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults award, and will be published in 14 countries internationally. My next novel, a middle grade titled The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place, was published September 2014 in the US by Roaring Brook, and also in Germany, the UK, Japan, Brazil, and Viet Nam. It won an Odyssey Honor from the American Library Association, and was named a Best Children’s Book of 2014 by the Wall Street Journal, and was named to the Dorothy Canfield Fisher list. My next novel, The Passion of Dolssa, published by Viking Children’s Books, won a 2017 Printz Honor from the American Library Association, was a New York Times Notable title, was nominated for the Los Angeles Book Prize, earned five starred reviews, and earned a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten award. My next novel, The Emperor’s Ostrich, released June 2017 from Roaring Brook Press, and my upcoming novel, Lovely War, releases in spring 2019 from Viking children's books.

About the illustrator: 
April Lee is an illustrator, character animator, and 2D special effects animator who works for several major television and film studios. Her animated e-book The Dragon and the Pixies earned honorable mentions at the London Book Festival and the Los Angeles Book Festival.