Welcome to Christmas Book Fair featuring authors I have personally recommended and also the new book spotlight authors from 2024 to give their books another boost.
The first book today is the celebration of a timeless love and the grief when that love is accompanied by loss by Balroop Singh – Just One Goodbye: Poems from the Heart
About the collection.
Grief is like a perennial stream that flows unaffected, as the layers of glacier that sit within our hearts get thicker each moment. The tunnels of thawed emotions struggle to find a passage, which is often blocked by outside influence – by our own family members and friends. Their words of sympathy try to plug the bleeding holes, little knowing that some cracks are permanent; they can’t be darned. I’ve tried to give vent to my frozen feelings in these poems.
Sometimes I wonder – do people shame me for my grief, for this repetitive theme of loss, of loneliness? Speaking soothing syllables to myself, I try to form new words, words of self-solace, words of wisdom that are forced out, that could resonate with pain. Grief still chases me like a cheetah; chokes me, tears me apart and lets my blood trickle out, minute by minute.
Never will the wish to say the last goodbye wane
Never will I be able to reconcile to the shock
Never will the glacier of my grief melt
Never will the spring be the same for me.
One of the reviews for the collection
When Balroop Singh, an accomplished poet, unexpectedly lost her husband in October 2023, poetry became her channel for honoring her pain, for questioning and remembering, for seeking solace, and finally after a year of suffering, for noticing a thin hint of dawn on the horizon. Reading this book of poetry was a journey through her broken heart, encompassing an evolution of emotions, into the possibility of a future without her beloved. It felt sequential, as if shared in the order written, each poem a stepping stone along a path.
The book opens with a beautiful and aching dedication to the poet’s husband and a personal statement of how the book came to be. A generous collection, it includes both freeform and syllabic forms of poetry, including “tanka prose”—a combination of prose and poetry that were some of my favorite pieces. Randomly interspersed between the poems are lovely images with brief poems encompassing a thought, memory, or feeling.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys poetry infused with emotion. This isn’t a long read, at just under 100 pages, but it’s worth savoring. I read it over two days, but expect that I’ll return to it again at a more leisurely pace. I highlighted a dozen or so poems that I thought were particularly beautiful, but this was my favorite. It falls about halfway into the author’s journey:
“My Soul”:
Swimming with my soul,
Seeking solace.
She knows the depth of my ocean,
She obviates conflicting thoughts.
She lets me drift deeper
To dispel doubts that I harbor,
Gives me a new perspective,
Lends her radiance.
Her color remains obscure to me.
How can you ever see it?
She tries to wear whatever I offer
Yet, she has a color of her own.
Often, she knocks off my thoughts.
She takes me beyond dark allies,
Tries to show that there is life
On the other side of grief.
Head over to buy the collection: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK
A selection of other books by Balroop Singh
Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – and : Amazon UK – Follow Balroop : Goodreads – blog:Balroop Singh on WordPress – Twitter: @BalroopShado
The next books is by Joy Neal Kidney in her biographical family based series. What Leora Never Knew: A Granddaughter’s Quest for Answers (Leora’s Stories)
About the book
Five brothers served. Only two came home.
What Leora Never Knew: A Granddaughter’s Quest for Answers is Joy Neal Kidney’s journey of research and remembrance, and the companion book to Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II.
Joy Neal Kidney’s new book, What Leora Never Knew: A Granddaughter’s Quest for Answers, masterfully captures the essence of “The Greatest Generation” through her family lens. – John Busbee, The Culture Buzz
We must never forget these young men who served our nation and who paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives. – Steve Snyder, author of Shot Down: The True Story of Pilot Howard Snyder and the Crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth
What Leora Never Knew is a part of the Leora’s Stories series, published jointly with Joy Neal Kidney and Legacy Press Books. http://www.legacypressbooks.org
One of the reviews for the book
What Leora Never Knew : A Granddaughter’s Quest for Answers is the fourth book in the series Joy Neal Kidney has written about her maternal grandmother Leora Goff Wilson, beginning with Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family in World War II. Each book can be read as a stand-alone, but I would recommend reading the entire series–and reading it in order–Leora’s Letters, Leora’s Dexter Stories, Leora’s Early Years, and What Leora Never Knew.
Kidney’s quest for answers about the fate of her three uncles killed serving their country in World War II began in earnest with her grandmother’s death in 1987. Leora had left a legacy of family letters, which brought back the full extent of pain and grief the surviving family members experienced, in particular Leora’s two daughters, Doris, Kidney’s mother, and Darlene, her aunt.
Kidney was determined to discover and document as much information as she could about the specific circumstances of her uncles’ deaths to keep their memories alive for future generations of her family. As it turned out, the Leora books are now part of the historical record not only for the State of Iowa but for the entire nation.
What Leora Never Knew is the story of Kidney’s research process and findings about the circumstances of each uncle’s death and the aftermath of those deaths. As detailed in the book, Kidney became a highly skilled (and dogged!) researcher. I was very impressed by the previously-classified military records she had been able to obtain and the range of resources she employed to discover the missing pieces of her uncles’ stories.
The first section of the book introduces readers to the Wilson family, with particular emphasis on the three brothers who were lost, Dale, Danny, and Junior. Some of the information appears in prior books in the series, but it is expanded upon in this volume. These chapters cover each brother’s entry into the service, his training, the day-to-day life of the pilots, the larger context of military operations, and notification to the Wilson family of each brother’s loss, Dale and Danny missing in action, Junior killed in a training accident.
The second section of the book presents the military records that tell the story of each plane’s loss, including horrific eye witness accounts, the disposition of Junior’s body, and the searches to find Dale’s and Danny’s remains. Kidney’s matter-of-fact tone when discussing military operations, the details of the brothers’ assignments, and the missions they went on, followed by the specific circumstances of each death and subsequent search for their remains left me incredibly sad.
The official military documents, particularly the lists of personal effects–”Pants, sweat, Shirt, sweat, Drawers, wool, Undershirts, wool” (p. 85)–really brought home the fact that these were three ordinary, decent young men who were cut down before they had a chance to begin their adult lives, all for love of country. What Leora Never Knew, was an emotional read for me but an important and necessary read, both for the history of this country and for its future. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Head over to buy the book: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK
Also by Joy Neal Kidney
Discover more about Joy, read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – More reviews: Goodreads – Website: Joy Neal Kidney – Facebook: Joy Neal Kidney Author – Twitter: @JoyNealKidney – Instagram: Joy Neal Kidney
The next book today is one I enjoyed very much She who comes forth by Audrey Driscoll…an intriguing fantasy action thriller set in the land of the Pharoahs.
About the book
Recently turned 21, France Leighton travels to Luxor, Egypt, taking with her two legacies—an antique cello and an emerald ring. Instead of the archaeological adventure she expects, she gets a lecherous dig director, hidden agendas, a risky balloon ride, and an enigmatic nuclear physicist. In the mysteries of the ancient tombs, France realizes she and her gifts may imperil the world—or save it.
More Details:
October 1962. The developing nuclear missile crisis in Cuba is of no concern to Francesca “France” Leighton. Recently turned 21, France travels from her home in Providence to a job at an archaeological dig in Luxor, Egypt. She takes with her two legacies—an emerald ring from the grandfather she never knew, and an antique cello from his friend, a man she loved like a grandfather.
The dig disappoints. France is relegated to sorting chunks of stone, the dig’s director makes unwanted advances; rivalries and mistrust are everywhere. And it’s too darn hot. Tasked with playing her cello at a gathering of archaeologists, France meets the enigmatic and fascinating nuclear physicist Adam Dexter. She’s smitten, especially when he promises to show her the secrets of Egypt, including a hitherto undiscovered tomb.
After a risky balloon cruise ends in a crash landing, France is forced to leave the dig. Despite warnings against solo explorations on the west bank, she finds herself with Adam Dexter in an eerie house near the Theban Necropolis. Adam’s promises are alluring, but he is both more and less than he seems and his motivations are disturbing. Fleeing his house, France makes a horrifying discovery.
Through an image of Osiris, France discovers the true reason for her presence in the Theban Necropolis. As the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war, she must call upon resources both within and beyond herself to meet the perils that await her in the world of the dead beneath the Western Peak.
One of the reviews for the book
Audrey Driscoll took one of the lesser known H.P.Lovecraft characters Herbert West (Herbert West- Reanimator) wrote well received novels and has now expanded these to include France Leighton. Who, without giving too much away has links to West.
The story is set in the early 1960s and encapsulates an era when young women were being ‘allowed’ (sardonic) to spread their wings (somewhat). France being intent on a career in Archaeology into Ancient Egyptian. New to the field, she of course is placed at the bottom of the administrative pile and has to put up with the unwanted attentions of a creep of an archaeologist. France however is a determined, independent person intent of forging her way.
The first aspect which should draw the reader in is France’s tendency to an irreverent, cheerful, mildly vulgar outlook in dealing with this new career. As the book progresses Audrey weaves in aspects of France’s youth which link her with West and explain something about her character, in addition as to why she finds herself in the situations she does. One delightful and intriguing aspect is her relationship with her one sole (soul?) comfort, her cello Eudora, conversations between them take place and the reader is left wondering whether these are all in France’s mind, or is there more to Eudora? In France’s world, who can tell?
As in the West tales, there is more than the natural involved in the narrative, and the tale moves in the realms of Ancient Egypt reaching out into the present of the book, drawing France in. Of this I shall write no more least spoilers are released.
The style of the narrative conveys the heat, languor and oppressive atmosphere of the past, an alien landscape which contains layers of unknown and uncertainty even to those westerners who have spent some time there. The read at times is slowly disturbing, as The Past imposes itself on The Present.
Back fifty years plus ago I read Lovecraft, but could never engage with his characters. Audrey creates more lively, interesting folk with motivations the reader can at least understand and as in France’s case maybe feel they might have followed a similar path. This book, as in the West series thus have these more rounded characters, making the tales readable on differing levels.
As a benefit for readers who may have started with this book, Audrey supplies a very helpful and enlightening list of the books she has written in this series, which will be of assistance as clearing up questions a reader might have on France’s history and well as laying out those works involving West.
A book therefore of many layers: adventure, mystery, supernatural, observation, something to interest everyone, highly recommended. And now I must go onto ‘She Who Returns’…..
Head over to read the reviews and buy the book: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK
A selection of other books by Audrey Driscoll plus the complete Herbert West Series
Find out more about Audrey Driscoll, read the reviews and buy the books :Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – follow Audrey: Goodreads – Website:Audrey Driscoll –
Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books.
