Devon Book Club discussion

As another year draws to a close I want to say a big thank you to you all for your continued support. You have been amazing and it is such a privilege to know so many of you and to share our love of reading together.

I have to keep pinching myself when I see that our community has now grown to over 4,000 people - in Devon and across the UK and the world. 1100 people on Facebook, 3,000 on Twitter and over 450 on Goodreads

This year 14 authors have offered giveaways (I will post more about them tomorrow) and my thanks go to them for their generosity. Also to Ginny Baily for agreeing to be interviewed on our YouTube channel (I'll also post a link about that tomorrow) and for Anjana Chowdhury for celebrating Indian writing and culture in a hugely successful event we ran jointly with Exeter Library.

I want to acknowledge all the bookshops, reading groups, libraries, festival organisers, publishers and other book-related organisations and businesses for linking up with us to celebrate Devon's year in books.

What a fantastic county we live in and what a unique and very special community Devon Book Club has become. Thank you all.

Looking to 2020, I am working on a new programme which I'll share over the next few days.

But more about all that in due course.

For now, it just remains for me to wish you all a wonderful new year. I hope that 2020 brings you a year of health, peace and happiness.

Ian wrote: "As another year draws to a close I want to say a big thank you to you all for your continued support. You have been amazing and it is such a privilege to know so many of you and to share our love o..."

Many thanks for all that you do for this book club and not least the excellent giveaways!

Karen wrote: "Ian wrote: "As another year draws to a close I want to say a big thank you to you all for your continued support. You have been amazing and it is such a privilege to know so many of you and to shar..."

My pleasure Karen - they will be starting up again very soon

Reviewing Giveaways of 2019

I said yesterday that I'd post about the generous authors who did giveaways for us in 2019 by way of a further thank you to them and to invite them to bring us up to date with how things are going. I'll do this over a number of posts.

To begin the year we featured books by Hazel Manuel, E.C. Huntley and Kathy Shuker

Hazel Manuel has written 4 novels and we featured her latest, Undressing Stone, a mysterious tale which flirts with the gothic. Set in rural France this is a narrative that moves between caustic observation and the richly sensual, a novel that challenges many of our taken-for-granted assumptions about modern-day life, and that celebrates the unconventional.

This is a book that left me sitting quietly at the end. I loved it.

Liz (E.C.) Huntley's book The Tyreis set in Tamil Nadu in southern India and tells the story of a man who lives in abject poverty but who, one day, gains ownership of a valuable tractor tyre. As he begins to ponder what to do with it and how to use the wealth it potentially could bring, his values are challenged and family life takes new turns.

This is a richly observed book, that explores human motivation with a gentle skill.

Kathy Shuker is a founder member of Devon Book Club and is now the author of 4 novels. We featured her latest, The Silence Before Thunder

Set in Devon at the sprawling Devon home of novelist Eleanor Lambe, a motley crew of old friends arrive to act as tutors for a writing workshop including her former lover and his new fiancée. There’s rivalry and tension in the air. When Eleanor falls from her clifftop garden and lies in hospital, damaged and silent the mystery unfolds.

Kathy writes with a light touch and with great sensitivity which, coupled with a compelling mystery, great characters and a dash of humour, makes for a fantastic read.

You can find more about all three writers here:
http://www.hazelmanuel.net/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
http://www.kathyshuker.co.uk/

Continuing my celebration of the authors who participated in our book giveaway series of 2019, tonight I want to feature Daisy Burton, Tom Dawn and Virginia Baily

In February I was delighted to introduce Daisy's debut novel Sensible. Set in 1995/6, this is the story of a year in the life of 27 yr old, Jessica.Munroe, who is newly separated and is just discovering the internet. It follows her rather turbulent, reckless and rollercoaster life and travel. It has been described in reviews as “a great holiday read”, “a feelgood book”, “a light-hearted (in parts quite graphic) and gripping read”. Daisy describes it as a mixture of chick-lit, thriller, and erotica.

As we entered March it was time for a different kind of book, Tom Dawn's Descent Marc Miller #1 . Things went wrong for Marc very suddenly. Losing his best buddy and a dream job has left him traumatised, grief-stricken and desperate to escape his inner demons. When he meets the wrong person, he is easily exploited, and walks blindly into an intrigue. Before long, all the social, moral and existential certainties of his life have evaporated. In a bizarre twist, external events offer him a new sense of purpose. Could redemption come from outside, instead of within himself? In Descent, Tom explores the devastating impact of guilt and personal manipulation on a man at his lowest ebb.

At the end of March Ginny Baily offered us The Fourth Shore: the sliver of fertile land along the Tripoli coast, the 'lost' territory Mussolini promised to reclaim for Italy. Which is how, in 1929, seventeen-year-old Liliana Cattaneo arrives there from Rome on a ship filled with eager colonists to join her brother and his new wife. Here she finds a world of persecution, violence, repression, corruption and deception.
The Fourth Shore is the engrossing and intensely poignant story of Liliana's journey from Rome to Tripoli to a north London suburb where, as plain Lily Jones, she begins to uncover a secret she has buried so deeply that even she is far from certain what it is. The novel explores themes of migration, the long shadows cast by episodes of violence, forgiveness, love and the enduring power of friendship.

Three fabulous and very different novels - I am continually thrilled to share the diversity that Devon writers offer.

You can find more information on Daisy, Tom and Ginny here:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
https://tomdawn.wordpress.com/descent/
https://www. virginiabaily.com