Carol Naylor's REVIEW it...

    Seriously Mum What's an Alpaca? by Alan Parks. "A landscape full of mountainside and valleys, punctuated by pine trees, while in the distance the sea glistening in the sunlight. It seemed so idyllic and perfect. What could be better than a life in the sun with these beautiful animals as companions?" This memoir, the first of two must be about falling in love with a dream that eventually reaches fruition after a lot of hard work and agonising moments. Seriously Mum, What's A Donkey? is the sequel to this Spanish adventure. Alan Parks was encouraged to write about this new venture-breeding alpacas in Spain, quite a big upheaval from life in the UK to a remote part of Andalucia, the frying pan of Spain because of the summer heat, without the mod-cons that we so depend upon! On the bright side it seemed like a vision of utopia but in reality  nerves were often shot to pieces, paranoia set in along with plenty of setbacks and heartaches. The memoi...

                Divine Damages by Georgia Varjas. " The air tortured her skin. She felt daggers attack her and pierce her flesh but she resisted. ' I know what you did, I saw you. Now, I am your tormentor .' " This is an interesting selection of 10 modern, tongue-in-cheek stories of feminism taken to an absurd extreme using male and female caricatures. In Stalking Patty we are looking at revenge and female empowerment. Patty is approaching middle-age and we discover how gullible she seemed to be at 17 years of age, discovering boys and sex for the first time. What ensued inevitably, was an unplanned pregnancy followed by a tragic miscarriage. It was meant to be a simple D&C to clean her out but she had been left infertile and with permanent psychological damage. Whilst under the anaesthetic she remembered the nurses laughing at her and the surgeon with a huge carving knife in his hand. Consequently, she was doped with medicat...

              Cat O' Nine Tales by Jeffrey Archer. "If you want to murder someone, don't do it in England. The odds are against you getting away with it. You've got a much better chance in Russia." With sales of over 250 million and titles such as Kane and Abel to the recent Clifton Chronicles the Mail on Sunday referred to him as probably the best story teller of our age. He might not have a squeaky clean image, having spent 2 years in H.M. prisons, five to be exact but he did meet some interesting and exceptional criminals who fed his imagination with enough fuel to publish his Prison Diaries and this short story selection. It's Archer's fifth collection containing 12 stellar tales gleaned from the inmates whilst being incarcerated. All 12 stores are firmly rooted in fact although they have been embellished and most of the names changed. The Cat O' Nine Tales/Tails is a variation of the flogging device used in prison. Records illustrat...

            Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann . " Houses, husbands, and midnight gin parties. Nothing's going to change. Not in any way that really matters. It will be like always." This is post-war America, full of expectation and excitement for the likes of cousin Nick and Helena seeking The Great Gatsby life of endless parties and self-indulgence galore. Both women were married: Helena had sadly lost Fen after 2 months of marriage but remarried in haste and moved to Hollywood with its glitz and glamour whilst Nick married Hughes out of love and desire hoping to lead an exciting life. Yes, hoping! The story interestingly, darts back and forth over two decades so you need to be on your toes and there are multiple narrators-in total five: Nick, her daughter Daisy, Helena, Hughes and Ed, Helena's son. There are overlaps which serve as reminders to the readers of the events taking place as well as indicating the innermost thoughts a...