Double good news today!

It was officially my last day at work today - our site has been closed down. A bit sad, after twenty years at the company, though as I'm furloughed, it hardly made much difference to my actual day.

 

BUT, I've been nominated by Retreat West for a Pushcart Prize for my story, 'Tiger' AND I have received another lovely review for my forthcoming book. So overall, a good day :-)

 

Review of All Our Squandered Beauty by Sue at Brown Flopsy's Book Burrow:

 

I am a huge Amanda Huggins fan so was overjoyed when she asked me if I would like to review her latest publication, All Our Squandered Beauty, which will be hitting the shelves in January 2021.

In these pages, we get a glimpse into the life of a young girl haunted by the loss of her beloved father - a man who drowned at sea while out on his fishing boat, but rumoured to have run off with his lover and abandoned his wife and child. For Kara, something has gone missing from her life along with her father, but she knows that he was planning to return home to her, despite what people say - if she could only find him in the waves and bring him home, and so make herself whole again.

This is the most wonderful coming of age story, set in the heady summer of 1978, and it sings with the promise of what Kara's life could be if she can break away from this small community and pull of the sea that holds the echoes of her father. She knows she wants more than life here can offer and longs for the bright lights of London.

"The snow cranes are ready to fly south again with all our squandered beauty 

stowed beneath their wings."

 Amanda Huggins writes the part of Kara so beautifully. Her portrayal is full of the angst and confused emotions of youth, rich with  palpable longing for adventure away from the stifling small town community in which she lives, for a life of glamour with sophisticated companions, and yet unable to quite throw off the lure of security that home guarantees. It's so evocative for anyone who grew up in a small seaside town, like myself, that I found myself pulled right back in time - the people, the environment and the feelings all came rolling back!

Of course, coping with the loss of her father makes this more than your usual coming of age tale and it allows Amanda Huggins to fully explore Kara's relationship with the sea in all its wild and rugged glory - bringing in a riot of colour, sound and the symbolism of mysterious folk lore magic that draws us in and lets the waves of the text wash over us.

For a novella of only 122 pages All Our Squandered Beauty  takes you on the kind of emotional journey that only an accomplished author can. I loved the way Amanda uses the locations of home and Greece as a way to contrast between Kara's experiences of people and environment - again using the sea almost as an extra character in the story - it was so cleverly done.

I also adored the little nod Amanda makes to her own incredible poetry anthology, The Collective Nouns For Birds, when Kara reminisces about her father. This made me smile big time, Amanda!

This book is beautiful and I promise you it will take you through a whole gamut of emotions, with plenty of tears along the way, but both the journey and the destination will make it all worthwhile.

All Our Squandered Beauty will be available to buy from your favourite book retailer in paperback format from 31st January 2021.

Thank you to Amanda Huggins and Victorina Press for gifting me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

 

Another review for All Our Squandered Beauty by Amanda McLeod

Another brilliant advance review for All Our Squandered Beauty from Amanda McLeod.

 

At seventeen, Kara is a complex blend of idealistic youth and haunted past. She’s ticking the boxes – good education, steady boyfriend – but she yearns to escape small town life, and the rumours surrounding her Da’s death. A taste of London with her best friend Lou confirms her desire. But when Lou’s ambitions are extinguished by her own boyfriend and Kara’s tries to bind her to him through an act of betrayal, that desire intensifies. Handsome art tutor Leo offers Kara an art residency at his foundation in Greece, and she can’t leave fast enough. But all is not what it seems, and Kara returns home just as lost as she was before. Local fisherman Jake offers empathy through shared experience – and closure on a chapter of Kara’s life she was certain would remain unresolved forever.

Amanda Huggins brings her intricate language and stunning descriptions to this tale of love, grief, and self discovery. The contrast between the grey fishing villages, the vividness and motion of London, and the otherworldliness of the Greek islands stand in beautifully as metaphors for the familiar, alluring, and illusory elements of Kara’s life. Here an early description of Hayborough carries the weight of Kara’s past:

She stumbled against the herring sheds, folding in on herself, hardly noticing the pools of brackish water, the smell of rotting fish.

While Greece takes on a distinct foreign feel, and almost an opposition:

Shoals of tiny fish, almost translucent, weaved as one in the shallows between fronds of delicate seaweed, and freckled sea cucumbers bobbed in and out on the gentle waves.

Huggins uses language to capture conflict exceptionally well in this novella, both internal and external. The piece is strongly character driven and Kara is well rendered and believable in her interactions with others and her confusion over her father’s death. Her emotional conflict is especially resonant as she searches for ways to resolve the broken father-daughter bond she lost with her Da’s disappearance. 

All Our Squandered Beauty explores the idea of history and our relationships with it. Kara idolises her Da to the point where she can’t see a life without him, and can’t consider other possibilities around his disappearance. This colours her relationships with almost everyone. Her choices suggest self-sabotage. She chooses a boyfriend she has no intention of committing to, and entangles herself in a relationship with a teacher that has no chance of becoming what she envisions. There is a definite sense of self-fulfilling prophecy in a lot of her decision-making at a subconscious level, and only when she is confronted with the raw truth of this does she seem to become capable of change and growth. When a final piece of the puzzle falls into place, she is able to let go of the past and not be defined by her grief. 

Amanda Huggins has created a layered, subtle exploration of how we define ourselves and are shaped by our experiences. Her narrative is strongly anchored in a sense of place and time, which are reflective of the story’s themes. All Our Squandered Beauty is an accomplished work with a deep humanity, and will resonate with anyone haunted by past tragedy and unable to break free.

 You can pre-order my novella now from Victorina Press here

All Our Squandered Beauty - Review by Allison Symes

 Another lovely advance review on Goodreads for All Our Squandered Beauty!

 

By Allison Symes:

All Our Squandered Beauty is a deeply moving story about a girl, Kara, trying to come to terms with the loss of her beloved Da. Kara manages to break a heart in the process, angers her dearest friend, upsets her mother who is trying to make a new life herself, and has her own heart broken, before coming to a conclusion that is right for her.

You just know at this point Kara’s life will take a new turn. Grief, while not gone (how can it ever be?), will not hold her back the way it has done until this point. There is also a determination by Kara to put things right as much as she can so the story ends on a hopeful note.

A book dealing with grief (especially long term grief where closure is not easy to come to) is never easy to write but AOSB is written with a delicate touch. You are taken straight into Kara’s head, understand how she is feeling and why.

I did find myself becoming exasperated with her at times (a kind of why did you do that, silly girl type response) but it is always great when a character makes you react like that. It means they’re unforgettable and that is a wonderful thing to achieve.

The sensory descriptions in this book are beautifully done. Squabble of seagulls is just one example of that and it is so appropriate. For me, this conjured up sound and imagery in three simple words. Excellently done and just one example of wonderful writing.

A hugely enjoyable read, though I would like to take Kara one side and have a good mother to daughter chat with her, not that she would welcome it!

Book Review - In the Sweep of the Bay by Cath Barton

 

A moving and honest portrait of a marriage, set against the backdrop of the wide sweep of Morecambe Bay. Cath Barton expertly captures the vagaries of the human condition in this insightful tale of love, loyalty and longing, of lost opportunities, of a relationship worn down at the heel by everyday life. Beautifully written, gentle and thoughtful, this slender novella is a must-read.

 Out November from Louise Walters Books. You can pre-order here

Review of The Collective Nouns for Birds

 

A great review for my collection over on The Lake today, courtesy of the brilliant Hannah Stone. Here's an excerpt:

"Here is a narrative voice moving not just from one location to another but from the aspirations and romantic imaginings of adolescence to the disillusionment of adult life. The enthusiasm of youth is portrayed with a kindly retrospective, with vivid imagery capturing the period and place. Teenage girls playing the fruit machines at a North Yorkshire coastal resort are ‘two stranded mermaids/killing time’ (‘Out Chasing Boys’), or ‘Two homespun girls turned restless moths’ who ‘know for one brief moment of teenage clarity,/that life will be good and worth the wait.’ (‘The New Knowing’). They wore ’patched-up pale-sky jeans/embroidered with all our rockstar dreams.’ (‘Dizzy with it’)."

You can read the full review here

I'm giving away a copy on Twitter - so please follow @troutiemcfish and retweet by midnight Friday if you want your name to go in the 'hat'!