In 2016 did you vote Leave or Remain? Since the narrow Leave vote, Boris’s ovenready deal became a slow pressure cooker but finally on Thursday the deed was done. My mind goes back to my youth. Birmingham used to be known as the city of a thousand trades. We had British Leyland employing hordes of locals making Austin, Rover, Morris, Riley, Wolseley and many other British-made cars. Our clothes’ stores stocked woollens made on Lancashire looms, there were huge iron and steel works and prosperous ship building industries. Britain used to be the biggest manufacturer in the world and the most technologically advanced. By the time I was born, home-grown manufacturing made up 50% of the UK economy and exporting was a major industry. But, no longer. Well, a new year and new self-sufficient era dawns on the horizon. Boris now needs to forget ovenready deals and work on bringing back old-style, home-based industries which employ lots of local people in cooperative, innovative ways. That’s the winning recipe for a newly-independent Britain, Boris.
20th December 2020
In a normal year, national excitement would be at fever pitch. But this is not a normal year. TV of yesteryear would be awash with the best ever scheduling, expensive Xmas advertising by the leading stores jingling out at us every few minutes. Not this year. What on earth has happened? A local FB friend called Ray posted this pic on FB, which says it all really. He says we're destroying our lives out of fear of a virus that has an average 0.43% infection fatality rate (Source: BMJ Global Health), those who are frail and with existing co-morbidities being the main casualties of this group. Is he right? Should we carry on with our lives as normal, letting businesses build up the economy, individuals getting vaccinated, going to bed if/when we feel ill and ploughing extra resources into the NHS? I feel sorry for Boris. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Never in the history of mankind have leaders had to deal with such a thing. I still blame China.
13th December 2020
As I wait to be called for the vaccine, every time the phone rings I jump. Will this be it? Don’t know how long it will be as don’t know how many 80 year olds there are in this area. As some of those at the head of the queue suffered anaphylactic shock, the latest idea is for everyone, after having the vaccine, to sit in a secluded room at the back of the surgery for 15 minutes to see if we’ve become more bat-like. On Wednesday, Birmingham will be told whether it can move from its present tier 3 to tier 2. Hope so, as I feel for small businesses who simply can’t continue as it is. To take my mind off things, we walk around our local park, social distancing, and admiring the giant father Xmas and the inventive coloured lights all around. But, could someone tell our neighbours across the road that flashing blue lights were not a good choice. Every evening we think the police are outside waiting to arrest us!
6th December 2020
73 years ago today, when I was born, it was dark. My father was still away in the army so my mother had to bang on the wall to alert our neighbour for help. No NHS then. But today is darker. Growing up, I had the Salk polio treatment on a sugar lump, but I wasn’t the first to take it so long term effects were well known. On Wednesday I’ll be near the top of the queue to be a guinea pig for the new Corona vaccine, where bat poison will be injected into my arm. Unlike the Salk treatment, no-one yet knows the long-term effects. Some say it might affect our individual DNA! I look outside. A dark hooded shape sidles past our window, face muffled, eyes downcast. I almost expect to see Boris at the end of our road, tolling a bell as he calls out ‘Bring out your dead’. I shake my head and think of medical students. The first thing that’s drummed into them is ‘Do no harm’. They, like me, will have to take everything on trust. Today is supposed to be a happy day but....
29th November 2020
As Birmingham enters the highest Covid tier on Wednesday, there are two schools of thought on the crisis. Whilst one Cabinet minister claims the NHS could be “physically overwhelmed..with every bed, every ward occupied”, others say that, in fact, the Nightingale hospitals remain empty. The general public are increasingly angry. Some say “what’s the point of hiding in a cave for months, as the lion will still be waiting outside ready to attack the minute we emerge again”. Meanwhile, business owners, ranging from Sir Philip Green to every corner shop, see their lives collapsing like a pack of cards. And oldies like me reflect on how we all, as kids, were urged in the ‘50s to build up our own internal immunity by confronting viruses, not by hiding away. When a child caught something, we all went to a ‘sickness party’ to catch it once, then be forever protected. You can’t keep disinfecting the whole world, whilst the economy on which we all need to survive collapses around us. Let’s hope the vaccine side effects aren’t worse than the cure.
22nd November 2020
Two grim anniversaries this week. A convoy of 100 cars and bikes here marked the 46th anniversary of the Birmingham pub bombings. At the same time, a different community commemorated the 80th year since the Warsaw ghetto was sealed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. We remember that dark time when 380,000 Jewish people were forced into a tiny area of unimaginable deprivations and terror. Over 80,000 died in the ghetto due to starvation, disease and overcrowding. In the Birmingham massacre, the IRA decided that murder was an ‘acceptable’ means to achieve their aims. In the Warsaw atrocity, it was yet another symptom of the irrational, perpetual, 3000 years old stupidity known as antisemitism. It’s now the 21st century. Isn’t it time we all took a look at ourselves and cried halt? Is there anything that decent individuals can do to stop the murder of innocents for another man’s ‘cause’? For me, I write about it so that not only do we never forget but that we recognise its creeping symptoms and stop it in its tracks. mybook.to/themazurekexpress
15th November 2020
Cummings and goings.....
The demon of Downing Street is gone, toting a huge, unprofessional cardboard box. Hope it didn’t contain a rival’s head. A huge vacuum is left in the British government just as we enter the final crucial days with EU mandarins over Brexit. The irony is that, across the Channel, Macron has his own croix de guerre, fighting rising Muslim terrorism. He seems alone in urging the EU to reinforce security borders - the main reason Britain left the EU in the first place! Looking west, Trump still clings to power, refusing to concede whilst pictures emerge of the incoming President’s past associations with the IRA. That doesn’t sit well with this (Birmingham) writer when the infamous IRA bombers of The Tavern in the Town are yet to be brought to justice. At my age, I’ve seen it all. Politics is so complex, not helped by a gullible public currently engulfed by a Chinese plague to rival the Black Death, yet always swayed by the media of the day. I need a drink.
8th November 2020
Fireworks. Not just our road but the US too. An explosion of joy and recriminations about postal votes. I don’t like them either. Years ago, an immigrant work colleague told me how the ‘head’ of local households would fill in a pile of ballot slips because no-one else in the road spoke English! Nevertheless, Biden it is, so now time to plan a new UK:US strategy. My mind goes back to past liaisons. Churchill/Roosevelt, Maggie/Ronnie, and Boris and Donald. But now? Biden needs to think anew. Don’t follow Obama’s post-Brexit ‘back of the queue’ trade policy. Instead, remember the VIPs at the annual July 4th parties at the Regent’s Park US Ambassador’s residence. Look around and whom do you see? Wall to wall generals, MI6 and GCHQ operatives. Yes, it’s the historic special relationship that counts, Joe, especially in the quest for global peace. As Him Indoors says: Biden’s wife should be called Laura (laura-biden’)!!
1st November 2020
As vulnerable over 70s, the new lockdown for us is more of the same: stay home, supermarket delivery, daily walk around the park and hours spent online. But there’s the rub. Social media’s gone berserk, giving bored people an outlet for all their simmering rage. Originally, the internet was built so you could find out where Robert Redford was born, how to lay kitchen tiles or find out the symptoms of whichever deadly disease you were surely incubating. Unfortunately, this soon morphed into the more ‘deadly’ social media disease of spouting anonymous bigotry, hate, racism and targetted diatribes against politicians on the ‘wrong’ side. People felt safe under their invisibility, knowing that the only personal come back was advert targetting. And, because FB tends to select only the posts from your own select group, people were convinced that the majority agreed with their own narrow views. Whilst we can’t do anything about the current lockdown, it’s time social media removed the cloak of anonymity to prevent all this pent-up rage spilling out onto our outlawed streets.
25th October 2020
Time for some commonsense, right around the globe. To US voters, whom should you choose? A self-promoting psychopath who sometimes does amazing things like bringing an increasing number of Arab States to sign peace agreements with Israel - something no president has ever before managed to do? A far better contributor to the Nobel Peace Prize than his predecessor. Or, an ageing, muddled, but decent bumbler who espouses elements of cultural and moral barbarism? Here in the UK, a very different politic continues. Constant depression and moaning abounds. Left-wingers, even in the House of Commons, use appalling comments like ‘Toryscum’. Fortunately, this is never reciprocated from the other side, who are generally better educated and more polite. Meanwhile, the government has paid out £192 billion to needy families whose jobs and incomes have been threatened by Covid legislation, more than any British government has done in history. In Israel today, a friend reports on her ‘wonderful country’. My message to Britain: please can we also be more supportive of our own country, which is doing its very best in these difficult times.
18th October 2020
In the 1950s my mother took me to see a film called The Jolson Story, an idealised biopic about an extraordinary singer. Jolson, a US immigrant from Russia, challenged the musical stereotypes of the age by converting black Afro rhythms into a format that white people could understand and enjoy. In the film there’s a scene where Jolson tries to jazz up the traditional barber-shop harmonies. After the show, the impressario Lew Dockstader fires Jolson, saying ‘This is how we’ve always sung it and we’re not gonna change.’ 70 years later, in the footballing world, England Manager Southgate - faced with his team losing - refuses to bring on a player called Grealish, a footballer with an extraordinary ability. Traditional, waistcoat-wearing Southgate - like Dockstader - says ‘This is how my team have always played and we’re not going to change.’ In this life, faced with the terrible problems we’re all experiencing, it’s time to confront the traditional and embrace the extraordinary.
11th October 2020
When I worked in the state-funded sector, my professor often said to me You’d do far better working in the private sector. At that time it was true. Business salaries were far higher and more prolific, but I stayed because of the university’s final-salary pension scheme. Best decision I ever made. Today, because of Covid, everything’s been turned on its head. Private businesses are suffering and dying, self-employed enterprises destroyed. But the state sector, the one where historically, socialist unions would regularly urge their workers to go on strike, is sitting pretty, paid securely by the tax payer. On average, as well as relative job security, you can today get 7% more wages working in the state sector. Fat-cat union leaders don’t know what to do! Should we all, then, start clapping for bar staff, waitresses and others struggling to enhance our lives? One thing’s for sure: without business taxes, the government will struggle to fund the NHS and the rest of the state sector, and we’ll all be up the creek without a paddle. The world has turned upside down.
4th October 2020
Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the day my elder brother Robert o.s. died. He grew up under some of the harshest conditions this country has ever known. Born in 1942, indiscriminate bombs were raining down and food was rationed. No phone nor car. Life was dark. Yet, he grew up the sweetest, kindest person I’ve ever known. Modern IT systems passed him by, but school and society taught him to respect the knowledge older people had gained over their lives and, above all, to respect those in authority. Conversing and working together with everyone were key. In the decades since then, as I look around the world, it’s obvious that running a country requires high levels of intellect and education not money; it shouldn’t be ‘who you know’ but what you know. Ignore quirks of personality. Remember that in his early years, Churchill was called a clown. Whatever the profession, the ideal candidate should have years of training in the ‘field’ with proven skills but, above all, the ability to liaise easily with all levels of society. As in 1942, life is once again hard and uncompromising. Our leaders could learn a lot from my brother Robert.
27th September 2020
The close of a difficult year, the end of an era for us. From the minute we rescued Bruno from the SPA kennel in Montauban, France, life had been one big adventure. I’m so glad I wrote Pensioners in Paradis, where so many of his doggie mishaps are recorded for posterity. We always wanted only the best for Bruno but yesterday, when the time had come, we didn’t want to follow the vet’s current Covid procedures, where you must stand and grieve on the public pavement outside whilst handing over your beloved pet. Miraculously, a solution appeared out of the blue via a company called Dignipets, who come to the house. Bruno, as a hunting dog, always preferred the outside so we arranged for his final moments to be resting on the grass in his favourite sunny spot of our garden. I held his paw throughout. It was so peaceful. Bruno will have his name inscribed in a doggie memorial book at the Prestwood Pet Crem at nearby Stourbridge where we will be able to walk in the woods by the flowing river there and remember him.
RIP Bruno, our beautiful Breton spaniel. 2003-2020.
20th September 2020
For some, this weekend is the time of new year. In over 70 years I’ve never known a crisis like this past year. In times gone by we’ve suffered from terrible world wars, where millions were slaughtered by men from different countries fighting each other. In the past, how ever bad it was, we knew that at some point it would be over and the world could return to normal. Those were dark days but this crisis is different. Of course, we’ve always had viruses. Every winter flu kills thousands. But that is a more ‘natural’ virus, not man-made, and we don’t change our lifestyles because of it. But Covid? Many believe it was caused by an accidental leak in a secret lab researching mutant viral strains in bats, which was covered up by its subversive, non-democratic country host. An accident waiting to happen, causing death to millions and ruining the whole world. Will there ever be an effective vaccine or will this man-made virus keep mutating making any virus ineffective? Let’s hope today is a turning point.
13th September 2020
6th September 2020
It’s now six months since we were forced into lockdown as a ‘vulnerable’ couple. The entire globe has been affected, millions have died, a disaster for every nation’s economy, school education and tourism, yet for some unfathomable reason still no word of global condemnation for the perpetrators, especially from the unbiased WHO. Many pics of lonely 5 year olds at school, sitting all alone at lunchtime, separated from their friends whilst eating from a box. Ambiguity and uncertainty abound over what’s allowed and vice versa. Last week we went out on a rare trip to take advantage of the government’s ‘eat out for half price’ scheme. Staff wore masks but, of course, diners can’t to enable them to eat! Where’s the logic when the virus can easily pass from one diner to the next? And outside, smokers indulged their habit, masks sitting around their necks. Plenty of signs where not to stand, but not where you can. Now that deaths from the virus seem to be lessening, time to ditch everything à la Sweden?
30th August 2020
23rd August 2020
16th August 2020
9th August 2020
2nd August 2020
26th July 2020
19th July 2020
12th July 2020
5th July 2020
28th June 2020
(Original oil painting by friend Ivor Roth.)
21st June 2020
14th June 2020
7th June 2020
31st May 2020
Sometimes I think it’s better to ignore the media and smell the roses.
24th May 2020
17th May 2020
Special offer. For the next few hours only, you can read FREE my book From Paradis to Perdition about our decision to come home. Plus another 2 of my books - FREE today only. No need for a compass. All 3 are FREE, right here, now. Hurry! Enjoy!
mybook.to/violinistsapprentice
mybook.to/anenglishwoman
mybook.to/fromparadistoperdition
10th May 2020
At 11 am, from our doorsteps and gardens, the nation will hold two minutes’ silence to mark the 75th anniversary of VE day today. Then we’ll sing We’ll Meet Again. For most reading this, those events in Europe happened before they were born. How important is it to look back in history? Can we learn from it and, thereby, improve our lives today?
When I wrote The Violinist’s Apprentice under the pen name Isabella Mancini, I was fascinated by the notion of going back in time and meeting someone who plucked at our heart strings so much that he’s still noted today. I wanted to explore how we, our language, our clothes and such technology as an iphone, might be received by an earlier European culture. Similarly, what would a young modern person make of the way of life back then? In my story, the tall girl who arrives in 17th century Italy, dressed in torn jeans, is initially taken for a boy. Here’s a description of what happened:
“A dark journey through time
On a group trip to Rome, musician Clementina is whirled back in time to 17th century Rome. Amidst court intrigue and creaking carriages, Italy becomes a chiaroscuro backdrop to her growing feelings for young violin-maker Antonio Stradivari. But people begin to notice just how ‘strange’ this young woman is. She must be a witch. Meanwhile, in present day Scotland, her brother suffers a life-threatening accident, and in an icy corner of the Arctic, a professor frets about global warming. Can Clementina find a way to return to the 21st century again?”
It’s interesting that, since the beginning of time, when confronted by someone ‘strange’, people react with evil intent. Why must those who are so brilliant as to invent something new or to have the prescience to help mankind always be threatened with death by the common populace? Surely such innovators should be lauded!
Grab your copy here: mybook.to/violinistsapprentice
Thank you everyone for taking this seven day literary journey with me, and thanks too to my publishers Crooked Cat/Dark Stroke Books for making it possible. Hope you’ve all enjoyed it. It would be great to read your review(s) of my books on Amazon. But, above all else on this special day in Europe - we’ll meet again!
Since 1883, a poem by Emma Lazarus was witting testimony to how America was viewed globally. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..’ My own relative, aunt Babette, had cause to be very grateful as she arrived at Ellis Island aboard the Majestic in 1924. But, until her death at the age of 90, how much did the prevailing culture in bustling Brooklyn change her from that young, poor girl from Birmingham, England? And my own father, who lived in NY at the time of the financial crash in 1929 - what effect did his eight years over there have on him? I intended to find out. America seems to be in my blood, yet despite considering and undertaking considerable research about emigrating there, ultimately it never happened. Why? Nevertheless, our two adult children are each married to an American and they both live in Maine - that cold, most-northerly of the eastern seaboard States.
Time to study the essential differences between Britain and the US. An Englishwoman in America takes us on a humorous journey across America, studying the language, culture, humour, health, sport, government, gun laws, religion, patriotism and even sex. An essential read for everyone. Get your copy here: mybook.to/anenglishwoman
They say that, as with some marriages, a 7-10 year ‘itch’ can sometimes occur after you’ve moved to another country. For us, the first few years in France were idyllic and we never wanted to leave. We loved the sunshine, the peace, the open roads and, of course, le bien manger. The first inklings came after I suffered the shock of losing my two brothers within two years of each other. I now realise that I wasn’t able to grieve properly, but looking back, the date of their passing started the first seeds of doubt. We were also getting old and - rather like poet Rupert Brooke - neither of us could envisage being buried in a ‘foreign’ field. Then came Brexit.
From Paradis to Perdition is the sequel to best-selling Pensioners in Paradis. It is taken from my own chronological blogs whilst living in France, but written in a quirky ‘Him indoors’ style. It follows our progression from happily living in France until, bit by bit, things changed. I recognised that, much as I loved France the country, the people can be rather cold and insular compared to the English and the Americans. Fortunately, however, I still cherish the close friendship made with a remarkable French couple living in a nearby village. Merci Gerard and Monique.
Here’s what this book’s about:
What on earth could have happened to change their joie de vivre and their love of all things French? Did they hit that je ne sais quoi that essentially divides the French from the English? Or was it that dratted Brexit referendum that threw a spanner in the works? We all want to know! So, draw up a chair, pour a tot of whisky or a glass of (French) wine and enjoy the fine art of self-disparagement as all will be revealed - exactly how it happened.
Here’s the buy link: mybook.to/fromparadistoperdition
Fifteen years ago today, Him indoors and I did the most extraordinary thing. We sold up, packed up everything, switched off the lights and said goodbye to England. What on earth could have induced us to do such a thing? Sometimes in life we all reach that fork in the tree of life where a decision has to be made, the consequences of which can be far-reaching. But emigration - could you do it?
Pensioners in Paradis was published by Crooked Cat Books in 2017. I set out to write a non-fiction book but written in a readable, factional style, chronicling exactly what happened to us in 2005. I had no idea of the impact my book would bring. To date, over 800,000 pages have been read, it’s a 4-times international best-seller and it’s currently my publisher’s third best-seller of all time.
Ask any writer and they’ll all say the same thing. It’s impossible to predict what will catch the public’s attention. I’m fortunate that the combination of the inherent comedy and the idea of running away from life did appeal to readers. Here’s what the book’s about:
Humour is a joyous thing. It enables us to recognise the ridiculous and to empathise with life’s disasters. Take the lives of a self-deprecating couple from England, steeped in life’s troubles, and whisk them across the Channel. Laugh with them as they encounter hilarious situations en France - from troublesome workmen, the infamous bureaucracy and even sex a la francaise! Take notes on this transition from English doom and gloom to la belle vie francaise and follow the exploits of this oh-so-recognisable English couple. What could possibly go wrong?
For those who haven’t read it yet, here’s the buy link. It’s a welcome break from today’s troubles. mybook.to/pensionersinparadis
This Friday will be the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Some liken the Corona virus to wartime, but unlike that joyous day in 1945 when everyone was dancing in the streets, will there ever be an end to the virus? Rather like a train idling somewhere down the tracks, the insidious danger will always be there, lurking.
And yet, despite everything, like Agatha Christie I’ve always loved locomotives. There’s something about the churning wheels and rushing wind that adds excitement to any journey. Couple this with a daring escape plan and you have the makings of a spine-chilling novel.
That’s what we should do to take our minds off things. In the lead up to VE Day, let’s remember how well this country did in the war. Yesterday I talked about 1938 Germany and 1942 Vichy France. Not so much has been written about what happened in Poland back then.
Welcome to The Mazurek Express, where I’ve used my love of trains to effect a sense of release from stress. I’ve used the Polish word Mazurek to evoke the swirling dance-like rhythm of the locomotive wheels.
It’s 1943 and our Birmingham protagonist is sent to Warsaw on his most dangerous mission yet: to help those trapped in the ghetto. However, despite heroic efforts, he finds himself herded into a cattle car heading for the notorious Treblinka concentration camp. As the heavy wheels churn, everyone is in peril.
This is a story about German-occupied Poland, the courage of the inmates of the Warsaw ghetto, and how a mighty locomotive acts as a catalyst for salvation of the spirit.
The Mazurek Express is available here: mybook.to/themazurekexpress
Yesterday I wrote about the novel which drew on my university career. Today I highlight the two novels which were released together in 2016 by Crooked Cat publishers. Each of these drew heavily on my Jewish heritage, my home city of Birmingham and my inner angst over what happened during the Holocaust. I wanted to show, first, what life was like for Jewish people in the years before WWII, and then the secret world of the Vichy government in 1942 France.
LAMPLIGHT. Spanning the years from 1912 to 1938, David Klein is 18 when he runs away from the poverty of his orthodox home for the bright lights of NY. From the terror of a near-drowning at sea, the story moves between NY, Birmingham and Breslau, where he lives through the burgeoning terror of Nazi Germany in 1938
VICHYSSOISE. Set in 1942, David Klein is on a mission to find a missing triple spy in SW France. Set against the historical, true background of Vichy France, the story shows an explosive Adolf Hitler and an irascible Winston Churchill, culminating in Pétain’s nail-biting trial for treason.
Whilst writing Vichyssoise, I was living in the tiny village of Varen, where I had volunteered to man the tourist office/bibliotheque. This proved very useful as I was afforded the opportunity to do research from original French texts about Pétain. In 2017, I was delighted to welcome my publishers in person, chez-nous, and guess what I prepared for lunch? Vichyssoise soup a la maison!
You can read the second editions of both books here. mybook.to/lamplight. mybook.to/vichyssoise
“Rome, 1660
Rome was a pot-pourri of the centuries, tiny colourful fragments from the beginning of time heaped one fragrant layer upon another. It was old but so so beautiful, full of rainbow colour and elegance. There was no other way to describe it but a decayed sort of beauty.
The streets were narrow, the thoroughfares roughly hewn. And down the centre and along the sides, butting up sharply against the houses, ran open sewage channels where residents would tip their chamber pots every morning – and woe betide any unfortunate passer-by who happened to be walking below at that very moment.
At intervals along the street there were wooden posts strung out to separate the main carriage-way from the narrow space left for passing pedestrians. Each side of the street was an odd assortment of dwellings and shops, each leaning towards each other as if to embrace, their windows shuttered to keep out not just the heat but the dust and foul smells from the street below.
In a shop slap bang in the heart of the Rome commercial area, a young man was slowly dusting the shelves in a rhythmic, but dreamy fashion. His exertions caused a thick flick of black wavy hair to fall forward over his broad brow. In an unconscious gesture, he elegantly brushed back the wayward tendril to reveal clear olive skin.
After finishing the dusting, the boy whistled tunefully to himself as he willingly stacked yet another pile of spruce, willow and maple in the back storeroom, ready to be fashioned into beautiful musical instruments. Along the inner walls of the shop were already a small selection of guitars, violins, violas, cellos and a large harp resting in the corner.
The boy absolutely loved his work. He was yet only sixteen, but he could imagine no finer occupation in the whole world.
‘No, no, Antonio! Not like that!’ shouted Signor Amati, who had come down to Rome especially to supervise Antonio’s new venture. It was Signor Amati, or Nicolo as the boy called him, who had taught Antonio all he knew about making musical instruments. But it was always the violins which Antonio loved the best, a love which had blossomed ever since he first heard Signor Amati play.
Antonio’s dream was to set up in Nicolo’s home town of Cremona, but first he decided to move further south to Rome. ‘There are not enough rich people yet in Cremona. I want to make and sell violins, and where better than in the great city of Rome,’ he had cried to his mentor.
And Nicolo could only agree. The boy had ambition and undoubted skill, he had to admit. Never could he have imagined that someone so young could be so very talented. From the first time that Antonio had watched and then copied him as he fashioned the supple wood, it was clear that this was no ordinary boy.
This boy was a veritable maestro in the making......”
We all have different stories to tell about the effects of the virus. When our second child moved to the US last year, we consoled ourselves that we could visit them both every summer. However, the virus has put paid to that and Virgin Atlantic won’t refund our money. But we can change the date to the winter. Yeah, the snowy season in Maine at our age. You can forget snow boarding, snow shoeing, snowmobiling etc.
Oh well. At least my US family memoir is FREE today and tomorrow, so you can read more about how America has affected the whole family over the years, right from the 1929 Wall Street crash era up ‘til today.
Enjoy!
But COVID-19 is a very different threat. A virus, an invisible death machine targeting the old and the frail. I can just about remember the notorious Asian flu in the ‘50s but in those days few people travelled regularly around the world, so virus clusters tended to stay put in certain areas. Those who got it and recovered, built up valuable immunity in their own communities. But COVID-19 is new, so not only has there been no time to boost our own individual white blood corpuscles, we’ve all been busy jetting around the globe during the unknown incubation period and merrily spreading the early germs via plane, tube and cruise ship air con facilities!
Whatever happens in the future, let’s hope someone other than Stephen King writes the epilogue...
- Callum Manning at 13 has been mercilessly taunted on Instagram by pupils for his online book reviews. However I was pleased to see that, after his sister tweeted about the incident, fellow authors have written many messages of support for him. Before the astronomical success of the Harry Potter books, reading by young people had slumped. But in the years after, reading of books like that has risen again. When I started writing The Violinist’s Apprentice, I wanted to follow in JKR’s success in writing an exciting series that the whole family would want to read. So, the stats below, taken today from the US Amazon site for The Violinist’s Apprentice, may be just a small step on the road but encouraging nonetheless. What ever your age, have you read my novel yet? Just click on the cover icon. Thank you!
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
- #637 in Historical Fantasy Fiction
- #170 in Historical Italian Fiction
- #542 in Historical Scottish Fiction
The Violinist’s Apprentice: Magic, Time Travel & Music Collide – in a Thrilling Timeslip Novel Hailed “Fascinating”
Isabella Mancini’s ‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’ forms part of an unforgettable seven-book series, as a naive young woman slips from the 21st Century to 17th Century Italy. Romance begins to blossom, but a tragic incident tears her between her growing feelings and the need to return to the present day to save her brother’s life. Few novels contain such a cocktail of themes including global warming, romance, magic and the ability to timeslip. One critic wrote, “…a fascinating original novel, laced with rich historical detail and 21st-century issues.”
Contact:
The author:
Email:olgaswan@hotmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
United Kingdom – It’s impossible to pigeon-hole Isabella Mancini’s latest novel into any single genre. It’s a fusion of fantasy, historical fiction, romance and a very real look at some of the present day’s most pressing issues.
It’s no wonder, then, that ‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’ has rapidly achieved such critical acclaim – as one young, impressionable woman transcends time, finds love and risks having to forfeit it all.
Synopsis:
A dark journey through time.
On a group trip to Rome, musician Clementina is whirled back in time to 17th century Italy.
Amidst court intrigue and creaking carriages, Italy becomes a chiaroscuro backdrop to her growing feelings for young violin-maker Antonio Stradivari. They kiss under an orange tree, and she persuades him to help a poor young boy from the nearby orphanage.
But people begin to notice just how ‘strange’ the young woman at the artist’s side is. She must be a witch!
Meanwhile, in present-day Scotland, her brother suffers a life-threatening accident, and in an icy corner of the Arctic, a professor frets about global warming.
Can Clementina find a way to return to the 21st century?
“The story is definitely dark, raw and poses many uncomfortable questions to the reader,” explains the author. “This was all part of my masterplan to pen something that can stand as totally unique in the marketplace, and weave so many genres into a narrative that still makes sense. As mentioned, this is one of seven volumes – with each set in a different location around the world.”
Continuing, “It’s tough to write something that allows fantasy to stand directly alongside real-world societal issues, but I suppose I am one of the few brave enough to explore it. Reviews have been incredibly positive!”
Indeed, critics love the book. Lynn Pool comments, “My favourite aspect of this time-slip novel is when the story's based in Rome, simply because the plot's self-contained. The tentative relationship between Antonio and Tina and their innocent first love attraction highlight how differently such meetings were conducted in times gone by. Therefore, seeing 21st-century Tina through Antonio's 17th-century eyes is delightful.”
Jessica Belmont adds, “The Violinist’s Apprentice is a really interesting concept. I haven’t read a time slip novel in quite a bit of time and this was a good one to get me back in the genre. Isabella Mancini manages to take a lot of information and make it easy to follow.”
‘The Violinist’s Apprentice’, from Dark Stroke Books, is available now:
Amazon - https://amzn.to/2OsBVCc
About the Author:
Isabella Mancini, published by Dark Stroke Books, is the alter ego of prolific author Olga Swan (published by Crooked Cat Books.)
For many years she and her husband lived in S.W. France with their French rescue dog Bruno, before returning to the West Midlands. She has a BA Hons (Open) in the Humanities.
Blog: olgaswan.blogspot.com
Twitter: @isabellamanci10
Instagram: authormancini
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ManciniIsabella1/
An interesting, different perspective from blogger Ellesea loves reading blog:
“Clementina (Tina) McBride is sceptical about going on a school trip to Rome. She doesn't want to leave her sick brother behind but is pursued by her Italian mother to accept the chance to visit the country of her birth. Strangely, before going on her adventure she's given an amulet by her teacher Mr Verdigris to wear at all time especially during the trip… what does this mean?
Captivating, I adored Clementina's time in 17th-century Rome. The author's paints a vivid picture of the Italian city at the time as I learned about young Antonio Stradivari. As someone familiar with the city, I appreciate the depth of detail Ms Mancini put into the narrative and finished this novel more knowledgeable than before.
My favourite aspect of this time-slip novel is when the story's based in Rome, simply because the plot's self-contained. The tentative relationship between Antonio and Tina, their innocent first love attraction highlights how differently such meetings were conducted in times gone by. Therefore, seeing 21st-century Tina through Antonio's 17th-century eyes is delightful..
Overall..a fascinating original novel, laced with rich historical detail and 21st century issues”.
***arc generously received courtesy of Darkstroke/Crooked Cat Books via Rachel's Random Resources***
