Book Review: Lucky's by Andrew Pippos

Lucky's 

by

Andrew Pippos 

 

 

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

Imprint: Picador

Publication date: 27th October 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Family Saga 

Pages: 368

RRP: $32.99 AUD

Format read: Uncorrected paperback 

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book 

 

Lucky's is a story of family.

It is also about a man called Lucky.
His restaurant chain.
A fire that changed everything.
A New Yorker article which might save a career.
The mystery of a missing father.
An impostor who got the girl.
An unthinkable tragedy.
A roll of the dice.
And a story of love, lost, sought and won again, (at last).

 

My review

 

Lucky's is an ode to the old Greek cafe style restaurants with Andrew Pippos drawing inspiration from his own upbringing.

 

Jumping back and forward in time Pippos shows us a post war Sydney when many migrants came to Australia to start a new life, opening cafes and expecting their children to work in the cafe.  Here the story follows Achilles Asproyerakas who played an important role in Lucky's restaurants as his cafe Achillion was the prototype for the Lucky's chain.

 

Then in 2002 we meet Emily on the cusp of a trip from England to Sydney, Australia, to boost her career in journalism, her husband tells her he is in love with another woman. Emily is drawn to Lucky by a painting her father gave her of a Lucky's franchise cafe. Emily hopes to write a career saving story on the Lucky's franchise rise and demise.

 

Emily and Lucky have many parallels in their lives. Tragedy has had a major involvement in both their lives. Lucky's name was ironic, and this wasn't lost on him, as tragedy after tragedy befell him. His character was well drawn and it was easy to connect and sympathise with him. I eagerly followed Emily's and Lucky's stories looking forward to Emily's big scoop and the outcome of Lucky's appearance on Wheel of Fortune with the hope of opening a new cafe. However the story fell short with too many time changes. Would it have been more engaging if it was in chronological order? I'm not sure.

 

Lucky's is a tragic tale, tragicomedy without the laughs. If they were there I missed them.

 

Pippos' writing is exceptional; nostalgic, tragic and palpable. 

 

3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

 

About the author

 

Andrew Pippos spent part of his childhood getting underfoot in his family's Greek-Australian café. When he grew up, he worked in newspapers and taught in universities. This is his first novel, and it packs in everything he knows about growing up in a noisy, complicated, loving family. He lives in Sydney. 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

 

 

  

Mailbox Monday & Life This Week - October 26th

 

 

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.

Life This Week is a meme created by Denyse Whelan Blogs where bloggers share snaps of what is currently happening in their lives.

Happy Monday!

My daughter passed her final Uni assessment which was the last assessment of her Uni degree for Primary School Teaching. She placed her name with three local schools as a casual and immediately received calls from all three schools. She has been working at two different schools now over the past two weeks and enjoying it and has been booked up for the rest of the school year. Her graduation ceremony will be some time next year.

I've almost finished the throw for my granddaughter. It is hard to see in the photo but every square has an embossed picture. Two more to knit then I need to sew it all together.

Another birthday celebration. Everyone gets six candles, that's my limit 😀.

Who loved Bubble-O Bills as a child? I saw these gorgeous, nostalgic pyjamas at Peter Alexandra. 

Books received over the last two weeks:

 From the publisher:

The Bro Code by Elizabeth A. Seibert

A humorous Young Adult novel about a boy who breaks the Bro Code by dating his best friends sister.

You can read my review HERE

 

 

 

Daylight by David Baldacci

This is the third book in the Atlee Pine series. I'm really enjoying this series as Atlee , in between working on current cases, searches for the truth behind her sister's disappearance.

FBI Agent Atlee Pine's search for her sister Mercy clashes with military investigator John Puller's high-stakes case, leading them both deep into a global conspiracy -- from which neither of them will escape unscathed.
 

Together by Christmas by Karen Swan

Karen Swan writes two books a year and they are both must reads for me. I especially love her Christmas book. She combines romance and suspense in just the right amounts

Lee and her son Jasper have a tight circle of friends and she is looking forward to Christmas. When she finds a book, with a desperate message inside, left in her bicycle basket she can't help but track down its author. This an instant connection it seems they might have a future together - but will Lee's secret means she ends up alone.

At Night's End by Nir Baram

Yonatan staying in Mexico City is reluctant to return to his wife and infant son back home in Tel Aviv. Convinced that his closest friend, Yoel, is going to die, he struggles to preserve his sanity. But why is he so convinced? Does the answer lie in their childhood in Jerusalem, when it was them against the world?

 

 

Received for book club:

The Book Collectors of Daraya by Delphine Minoui

Day in, day out, bombs fall on Daraya, a town outside Damascus, the very spot where the Syrian Civil War began. In the midst of chaos and bloodshed, a group searching for survivors stumbles on a cache of books. They collect the books, then look for more. In a week they have six thousand volumes. In a month, fifteen thousand. A sanctuary is born: a library where the people of Daraya can explore beyond the blockade.

Long a site of peaceful resistance to the Assad regimes, Daraya was under siege for four years. No one entered or left, and international aid was blocked.

In 2015, French-Iranian journalist Delphine Minoui saw a post on Facebook about this secret library and tracked down one of its founders, twenty-three-year-old Ahmad, an aspiring photojournalist himself. Over WhatsApp and Facebook, Minoui learned about the young men who gathered in the library.

My Purchase:

Return to Stringybark Creek by Karly Lane

This is the third book in the Callahans of Stringybark Creek trilogy.

I fell in love with the Callahan family in book 1 and I'm excited to find out what's in store for Hadley. I know I'm going to be sad to see the end of this trilogy.

  

 

  I would love to hear what books you received in the mail recently! 

 

 

Author Interview: Fiona Higgins

 

 

Today I would like to welcome author Fiona Higgins to The Burgeoning Bookshelf.

Hello Fiona, thank you for joining us. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how many books you have had published?

Thanks for having me, Veronica!

 
Well, let's see... I work in the Australian not-for-profit sector and live in Sydney with my stoic husband, three rambunctious children and two aloof goldfish. I’m also the author of a memoir (Love in the Age of Drought, Pan Macmillan) and four fiction titles: The Mothers’ Group, Wife on the Run, Fearless – published by Allen & Unwin – and my latest, An Unusual Boy, published by Boldwood Books.

 

What is a typical writing day for you?

 

I wish I could say, ‘Oh, I rise at 4.30am and meditate for ten minutes before consuming a perfect macchiato, which helps me deliver a thousand words on the page by noon.’ Sadly, as a mother of three tweens-and-teens, and with an almost full-time job in philanthropy, I’m rather more consumed with daily lunchboxes, school sport and work deadlines!

In short, there’s no such thing as a ‘typical’ writing day for me. I tend to squeeze the words out around my other activities, whenever and wherever that’s possible (sometimes in the Woollies car park – true story!)

Your books are primarily about relationships, parenting and motherhood; What inspired you to write about these topics?

 

(See above: tweens, teens, lunchboxes.) In all seriousness, relationships, parenting and motherhood are topics which are sometimes dismissed as ‘domestic’ or peripheral to the unfolding of human history – but they’re fundamental to our existence. Everyone has a mother and a father. Most of us define ourselves predominantly in terms of our key relationships (or estrangements). Parenting is a human experience which can deliver unmatched moments of beauty, joy and sadness. All of these topics are endlessly fascinating to me - and ripe for writerly attention.

 

Your latest book An Unusual Boy was released on 20^th October; How did you come up with the idea for An Unusual Boy?

 

I have a habit of drawing inspiration from real life and weaving it into my fiction (I wrote The Mother's Group, for example, when I was caring for my very sleepless second child) so An Unusual Boy is inspired partly from lived experience. Over the years, I've encountered many children - and adults, for that matter - who are 'different' in some way (some with diagnosis, others without). It's been simultaneously painful and inspiring to witness their joys and struggles as they navigate the often-unforgiving world around them, and that experience is very much reflected in the novel.

 

 What would you like your readers to get out of An Unusual Boy and how do you think it will resonate with them?

In terms of resonance, I think most parents – especially mothers – will relate to the character of Julia, who is bearing a significant ‘mental load’. She’s running a household of five, juggling a career as a music therapist, attempting to be available and supportive for her three children – one of whom is very ‘different’ – all the while trying to keep her marriage intact with Andy, who travels a lot for his work.

While Julia does a terrific job generally, she’s weary – and she’s deeply worried about Jackson. But she just keeps going, despite being under-resourced – and when things gets tough and slightly out-of-control, she calls on inner strengths she didn’t even know she had. The character of Julia bears witness to the incredible resilience of parents under pressure; and not just parents - but carers, grandparents and teachers who exhibit incredible levels of patience and love.

While everyone will have their own experience of the book, ideally I’d like to see readers emerge from this story with a renewed commitment to inclusion. One early reviewer of the work sums it up nicely, I think:
 

If this is a cautionary tale about the dangers to children of unsupervised internet access, then it is equally an admonition to avoid xenophobia of any sort: race, colour, creed or simply a different way of thinking, an alternate perception of the world. The common compulsion to “label” is countered by Julia: “Sometimes labels just put special kids in boxes. Sometimes they just give adults an excuse to stop thinking.” - Marianne (Goodreads)

What were the key challenges you faced when writing An Unusual Boy?

Time. Like Julia, in this hyper-busy time of life, I find myself very time-poor. Consequently it took me almost three years to write this book – yet readers tell me it takes them less than a day to read it. (I almost need therapy when they say that!)

Just for fun…..either or?

Tea or Coffee - Coffee (and bucketloads of it) 

Summer or Winter – Winter (blankies, open fires, blocks of chocolate, good books) 

Dog or Cat – both (seriously, I want one of each… but my husband is unconvinced) 

City or Country – Country (I miss the farm on which we lived a long time ago) 

Morning person or Night owl – morning person (it’s deeply irritating, my teenager tells me) 

Paperback or eBook – paperback (very 1970s, I know) 

Ninjas or Pirates – Ninjas (flexibility, agility and cool weaponry)

Thank you for stopping by and spending some time with us on The Burgeoning Bookshelf.

 

An Unusual Boy is out now and should be hitting bookshop shelves all over the country. 

Click on the cover to read my review

 About the book

Julia Curtis is a busy mother of three, with a husband often away for work, an ever-present mother-in-law, a career, and a house that needs doing up. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Milla, has fallen in love for the first time, and her youngest, Ruby, is a nine-year-old fashionista who can out-negotiate anyone.

But Julia’s eleven-year-old son, Jackson, is different. Different to his sisters. Different to his classmates. In fact, Jackson is different from everyone. And bringing up a child who is different isn’t always easy.

Then, one Monday morning, Jackson follows his new friend Digby into the school toilets. What happens inside changes everything; not only for Jackson, but for every member of his family. Julia faces the fight of her life to save her unusual boy from a world set up for ‘normal’.

An extraordinary boy. The mother who loves him. The fight of their lives.

 

Book Review: Real Tigers by Mick Herron

Real Tigers

by

Mick Herron

 

 

 

Publisher: John Murray

Publication date: 11th February 2016

Series: Slough House #3 

Genre: Crime / Spy Thriller

Pages: 369

Format read: Kindle eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

About the book

London's Slough House is where disgraced MI5 operatives are reassigned to spend the rest of their careers pushing paper. But when one of these fallen spies is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must breach the defenses of Regent's Park to steal valuable intel in exchange for their comrade's safety.

The kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg, however, as the agents uncover a larger web of intrigue that involves not only a group of private mercenaries, but also the highest authorities in the Security Service.

After years spent as the lowest on the totem pole, the spies suddenly find themselves caught in the midst of a conspiracy that threatens not only the future of Slough House, but of MI5 itself . . .

My review

I really enjoy Mick Herron's writing! It is witty, sharp and full of snark.

Real Tigers has the "slow horses" team back again in another amusing, tension filled episode in the Slough House series. They are a bunch of MI5 failures who spend their days scanning data looking for anomalies and dreaming of the break that will see them back at Regent's Park.

Those at the top, pulling the strings at Regent's Park, are constantly trying to back-stab each other, continually worried about their place in the hierarchy.

River once again acts before thinking, as he goes out on his own to solve a case. And Regent's Park are at the centre of a botched operation, calling in the slow horses to be the fall guys.

Sometimes I feel Herron doesn't like his characters. He puts them through trying situations and they never seem to get anything right. They constantly bicker and don't even like each other. However, all this suffering only makes them more endearing but don't get too attached as Herron doesn't baulk at killing them off.

Prepare for a wild ride with this story of corruption, double crossing, secrets and murder.

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Photo: Goodreads

Mick Herron was born in Newcastle and has a degree in English from Balliol College, Oxford. He is the author of six books in the Slough House series as well as a mystery series set in Oxford featuring Sarah Tucker and/or P.I. Zoë Boehm. He now lives in Oxford and works in London.

 

 

 

 

Book Review: An Unusual Boy by Fiona Higgins

 An Unusual Boy

by

Fiona Higgins

An extraordinary boy. The mother who loves him. The fight of their lives.

 

 

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication date: 20th October 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 391

RRP: $5.69AUD (Kindle)

Format read: eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

About the book

Julia Curtis is a busy mother of three, with a husband often away for work, an ever-present mother-in-law, a career, and a house that needs doing up. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Milla, has fallen in love for the first time, and her youngest, Ruby, is a nine-year-old fashionista who can out-negotiate anyone.

But Julia’s eleven-year-old son, Jackson, is different. Different to his sisters. Different to his classmates. In fact, Jackson is different from everyone. And bringing up a child who is different isn’t always easy.

Then, one Monday morning, Jackson follows his new friend Digby into the school toilets. What happens inside changes everything; not only for Jackson, but for every member of his family. Julia faces the fight of her life to save her unusual boy from a world set up for ‘normal’.

 

My review

 

An Unusual Boy is a heart-wrenching  story about a family struggling to keep from falling apart.

Julia is trying to run her family of five single handedly since her husband is overseas with work a large amount of the time. This can be stressful on a marriage at the best of times without the added burden of a child with a neurological problem.

I have to admit I was scared to read this book but I was also scared not to read it. We have our own unusual boy and although he is only four I worry about the life that is ahead of him. I could totally empathise with the Curtis family and the long road they have already travelled to get Jackson to the age of eleven. It was easy for me to imagine the years of doctors appointments, tests of all sorts and endless speech therapy.

So many reviewers stated that they fell in love with Jackson however in reality how many people can even tolerate someone else's child running circles around the table at a cafe or hitting out because the words won't come.

"Other parents have been less forgiving, including at Jackson's old school where we were progressively shunned by parents variously irritated or disturbed by Jackson's unusual behavior."

I read this book in one day and I cried from beginning to end. The tears are welling as I write this review.

An Unusual Boy is a book everyone should read. Mothers will resonate with Julia and her busy life, her constant tired state and always wondering if she is getting it right. 

Mother-in-Laws often get a bad rap in books so I was pleased to see Pamela step in and help out and for Julia to see her MIL in a new light. 

I loved Miss Marion and I think it takes someone very special to see something more to a child than their hyperactivity and to take it and turn it into a skill. That's the magic that some teachers possess! Every child has something special inside them.

An Unusual Boy is a story about acceptance, inclusion, diversity and not judging.

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Fiona Higgins is the Australian writer of several bestselling contemporary novels including The Mothers' Group and Wife on the Run. Her work has been widely reviewed, translated internationally, and described as 'page-turning domestic melodrama for the social media age.' She lives with her family in Sydney.

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

                                 Australian Women Writers Challenge #AWW2020

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Bluebird by Malcolm Knox

Bluebird

by

Malcolm Knox 

 

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin 

Publication date: 1st September 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 496

RRP: $ 32.99AUD

Format read: Uncorrected paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

A house perched impossibly on a cliff overlooking the stunning, iconic Bluebird Beach. Prime real estate, yet somehow not real estate at all, The Lodge is, like those who live in it, falling apart.

Gordon Grimes has become the accidental keeper of this last relic of an endangered world. He lives in The Lodge with his wife Kelly who is trying to leave him, their son Ben who will do anything to save him, his goddaughter Lou who is hiding from her own troubles, and Leonie, the family matriarch who has trapped them here for their own good.

But Gordon has no money and is running out of time to conserve his homeland. His love for this way of life will drive him, and everyone around him, to increasingly desperate risks. In the end, what will it cost them to hang onto their past?

Acclaimed writer Malcolm Knox has written a classic Australian novel about the myths that come to define families and communities, and the lies that uphold them. It's about a certain kind of Australia that we all recognise, and a certain kind of Australian whose currency is running out. Change is coming to Bluebird, whether they like it or not. And the secrets they've been keeping and the lies they've been telling can't save them now.

Savage, funny, revelatory and brilliant, Bluebird exposes the hollowness of the stories told to glorify a dying culture and shows how those who seek to preserve these myths end up being crushed by them.

 

My Review

Quintessentially Australian, Bluebird is a Sydney beachside suburb filled with born and bred locals who live in a haze of nostalgia remembering Bluebird before the developers set in.

Gordon Grimes is part owner of The Lodge, as it is affectionately called by locals. He has made it his life ambition to save The Lodge from developers even though it sits precariously on the edge of a cliff and is in desperate need of renovation.  The Lodge is always filled with a cast of hangers on, old surfers that spend their mornings chasing waves, their evenings reminiscing about life and their nights sleeping in the spare room of their widowed mothers' house.

Bluebird is a place where talk is overrated and time is expected to heal all wounds. Secrets swirl ominously around its inhabitants and there are plenty of old scores to settle, dodgy dealings, secret development plans and mates looking after mates.

Delivered through multiple POV from a diverse cast of characters, all linked to The Lodge in one way or another, there is never a dull moment in this irreverent, and at times politically incorrect, satire.

A story of love, loss, family, community and belonging; Bluebird is sardonic, perceptive, outrageously funny and deeply moving.

4/5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Photo: Goodreads

 Malcolm Knox was born in 1966. His award-winning novels and non-fiction titles have been published in Australia and internationally. A journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald since 1994, he has won three Walkley Awards for investigative journalism, magazine feature writing and sports journalism, as well as a Human Rights Commission Award. He lives in Sydney with his family.

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

 

 

 

Book Review: The Night Letters by Denise Leith

The Night Letters

by

Denise Leith

 

Publisher: Ventura Press 

Publication date: 7th October 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 364

RRP: $32.99AUD

Format read: Uncorrected paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

For five years, Australian doctor Sofia Raso has lived in Kabul’s vibrant Shaahir Square, working with Dr Jabril Aziz to support the local women. She knows that living peacefully in Kabul requires following two simple rules: keep a low profile; and keep out of local affairs.

Yet when threatening night letters from the Taliban taunt the town, and young boys disappear from Jamal Mina, Kabul’s largest slum, Sofia can no longer remain silent. While the square is encased by fear, an elegant former warlord proves an unlikely ally, and a former lover re-emerges with a warning. As the search for the boys intensifies, and Sofia feels herself being drawn back into a love affair she thought had ended, it soon becomes clear that answers will bring a heavy price.

Gripping and evocative, The Night Letters takes you to the heart of Kabul in a story of secrets, friendship and love in all its imperfect guises.

 

My review

 

Australian Doctor Sofia Raso is accepted to work in a medical practice in Kabul. After 5 years working there she is much loved by the local Afghanistani people and she now calls Afghanistan home. Sofia has come to accept many of the cultural differences but when young boys start disappearing from Kabul’s slums, to use a sex slaves to the rich and powerful, she knows she can no longer keep silent.

The Night Letters is told through a few main characters all residing or working in Shaahir Square; Omar, an ageing shop owner, who has had many wives but still laments over losing the love of his life. Iman, a young girl who works in the doctors’ office, is the face of change for women in Afghanistan. Sofia Raso, the Australian doctor who has worked her way into the hearts of the people of Shaahir Square. Dr Jabril Aziz, born in Afghanistan but educated in America resulting in a blending of cultural ideas. Behnaz, the wife of Chief of Police, Wasim, is old enough to remember a time before Taliban rule and grieves for how much they have lost. Daniel Abiteboul, a UN aide worker is introduced as a love interest for Sofia but their romance is very much understated.

Through these main characters, and a few other minor characters, Denis Leith gives the reader a broad spectrum of the citizens of Afghanistan. We get to see their thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams and also their despair as they live in fear of reprisal from the Taliban.

There are two mysteries running through the story. One being the night letters being left at the door of both Dr Jabril and Chief Wasim’s house advising them to warn their friend to stop or they will be in danger, and also the mystery of the young boys’ disappearing and who was behind this.

There is quite a lot of humour surrounding the night letters and all the gossip it creates in the square with everyone thinking they are “the friend” that needs to stop doing whatever. This humour really lightens up what could otherwise be a sad story.

I loved the descriptions of the square and the shops, the shop owners and their interactions which brought the whole scene alive whilst I was reading.

I don’t know much about Afghanistan however the author’s fondness for this country and its people shone through in her words.

Filled with strong women The Night Letters is a poignant story with characters that will touch your heart and leave you wanting more.

4/5   ⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author 

Denise Leith is a Sydney author, and former lecturer of International Relations, and Middle East politics at Macquarie University. Her debut novel, What Remains (Allen & Unwin, 2012) was shortlisted for the Asher Award and the Fellowship of Australian Writers National Literary Awards - Christina Stead Award. She has also published two non-fiction works, The Politics of Power (University of Hawaii Press, 2002), and Bearing Witness: the Lives of War Correspondents and Photojournalists (Random House Australia, 2004).

Denise’s work has involved extensive travel, including time in an AIDS hospital in South Africa, in a refugee camp in the Middle East and in an isolated village in the mountains of West Papua. She currently resides on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.  

 

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

                                 Australian Women Writers Challenge #AWW2020