Today I’m absolutely thrilled to be one of the stops on the Maria In The Moon by Louise Beech blog tour. This really is a fabulous book and if you haven’t read it yet, it’s definitely one I would highly recommend, and it’s made it’s way to my top reads of 2017 list, yes it’s really that good.
Maria In The Moon is published by the simply awesome Orenda Books and you can buy a kindle copy right now, but this one has such a beautiful cover, it’s a book you will want to keep you can buy a physical copy on publication day the 30th September 2017
Book description
‘Long ago my beloved Nanny Eve chose my name. Then one day she stopped calling me it. I try now to remember why, but I just can’t.’
Thirty-two-year-old Catherine Hope has a great memory. But she can’t remember everything. She can’t remember her ninth year. She can’t remember when her insomnia started. And she can’t remember why everyone stopped calling her Catherine-Maria. With a promiscuous past, and licking her wounds after a painful breakup, Catherine wonders why she resists anything approaching real love.
But when she loses her home to the devastating deluge of 2007 and volunteers at Flood Crisis, a devastating memory emerges … and changes everything. Dark, poignant and deeply moving, Maria in the Moon is an examination of the nature of memory and truth, and the defences we build to protect ourselves, when we can no longer hide…
My review
Every once in a blue moon (excuse the pun) a book comes along that blows me away, Marie In The Moon has left me with a serious book hangover not a common occurrence might I add. Marie In The Moon is without doubt Louise Beech best book yet I never thought I would say that, as I adored The Mountain In My Shoe, but oh my Maria In The Moon is something else, beautifully written, it’s a powerful and a emotive novel that will pull at the most hardened heartstrings. I seen a book quote which pretty much sums up my feelings for this novel ” some books you read. Some books you enjoy. But some books just swallow you up heart and soul”.
Set in Hull, just after the floods of 2007, the book focuses on Catherine Hope, who had no memories of her ninth year. All she can remember is that this was when her beloved father died. She’s a volunteer at Flood Crisis, happy to help other people if it means she doesn’t have to deal with her own problems. When a long buried memories begin to surface, Catherine tries to ignore them, but as they become more vivid Catherine has to face her past and deal with the devastating events that she choose to forget, for it’s only then she will be free. Although this novel draws on some difficult subjects Louise Beech deals with them with great sensitivity and empathy.
What a complicated but throughly intriguing character Catherine turned out to be, Louise Beech has an incredible talent that enables her to create such complex and flawed characters, she manages to get into the heads of ordinary people and makes them extraordinary, making the reader care about the characters she’s created. When the reader first meets Catherine she seems surly, antagonistic and defensive, she also appears to be in self destruct mode, but it’s not long before you become enchanted by this unbelievable character, she’s sensitive, passionate and caring and her story will break your heart.
Marie In The Moon is one of the most haunting and compelling books I’ve read in a long time, it’s full of dark humour but also filled with warmth, this novel evoked so many emotion I laughed, I cried and then I cried some more, this is a huge testament to the author’s powerful writing. Dark and deeply moving this novel is one book that’s going to stay with me for a long time, and I’m sure I will often think of Catherine’s journey and the horrors she endured.
I’m sure it will come as no surprise to hear I’m giving Marie In The Moon the very prestigious Gold Star Award Rating. It’s given to a book I feel is particularly outstanding, a book that covers every aspect of what I look for in a fabulous read, fantastic plot, great characters and a storyline that draws me in from the first page and keeps me in its grips until I reach the very last page.
Print Length: 276 pages
Publisher: ORENDA BOOKS (15 Aug. 2017)
Buying links: Amazon UK 🇬🇧 Amazon US 🇺🇸
Louise Beech remembers sitting in her father’s cross-legged lap while he tried to show her his guitar’s chords. He’s a musician. Her small fingers stumbled and gave up. She was three. His music sheets fascinated her – such strange language that translated into music. Her mother teaches languages, French and English, so her fluency with words fired Louise’s interest. She knew from being small that she wanted to write, to create, to make magic.
She loves all forms of writing. Her short stories have won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting twice for the Bridport Prize and being published in a variety of UK magazines. Her first play, Afloat, was performed at Hull Truck Theatre in 2012. She also wrote a ten-year newspaper column for the Hull Daily Mail about being a parent, garnering love/hate criticism. Her debut novel was a Guardian Readers’ pick for 2015.
She is inspired by life, history, survival and love, and always has a story in her head. Her debut novel, How to be Brave, came from truth – when Louise’s daughter got Type 1 Diabetes she helped her cope by sharing her grandad’s real life sea survival story. Her second novel, The Mountain in my Shoe, was released in September 2016 and was inspired by her time working with children in the care system.
When she was fifteen Louise bet her mother ten pounds she’d be published by the time she was thirty. She missed this self-set deadline by two months. Her mother is still waiting for the money.
Link to website – http://louisebeech.co.uk/
My thanks to Karen over at Orenda Books and Anne Cater for my ARC of this simply fabulous book, and also for allowing me to be part of the Maria In The Moon blog tour it’s been an honour to take part.
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