Review by Katherine Hetzel of "Jötunheim" by Constantine

Jötunheim is the sequel to The Cats of Charnwood. It's a time-travelling, dream-space jumping adventure which takes the Guardian cats Bailey and Scruff back 1200 years to a Charnwood not yet impacted by man’s need for stone, in a bid to find a new world for the Jotnar (giants) before humans can wipe them out.

Having travelled to the 9th century, Bailey and Scruff need the help of Leif, a human boy; Fala, a young giant; the cats of Osgathorpe; and a young Old One, in order to save the giants and prevent the pools of Kapol-Tok– doorways to other worlds – from being sealed or lost forever in the future.

As is often the way, time travel and world-hopping can be confusing, but interspersed as it is with Norse mythology and information about the geography of Charnwood, the reader is easily carried along with Scruff and Bailey to the end of their journey.

Written by a neurodiverse author with neurodiverse and reluctant readers in mind, the story is structured with lots of short chapters and section breaks to aid concentration, and often grounds the reader as to who is speaking or thinking so as not to lose track. In the early edition I read, there were punctuation errors, but if you can see beyond those the story being told is original and – as a Charnwood girl myself – is interesting in both the history and myths it presents. The book can be read alone, but reading The Cats of Charnwood first might help a reader to settle into the cats’ world more quickly. 

About the reviewer

Katherine Hetzel is an ex-microbiologist-and-egg-pickler turned children's author, writing fantasy adventure novels for middle grade readers. She's also a volunteer librarian two afternoons a week in a local primary school, and enjoys encouraging pupils of all ages to explore the world of books. To find out more, visit her website here. 

You can read more about Jötunheim on Creative Writing at Leicester here. 

Review by Tracey Foster of "Let's Ride Leicester Literary Tour," on Saturday 25 June 2022

Saturday was a good day to go on a bike ride. What a great way to see the backstreets and alleyways of our city! I must admit, I was a little nervous as I signed up to join the "Let’s Ride Leicester Literary Tour" to visit the key sites and places associated with our great writers, Joe Orton and Sue Townsend. The scale of the ride looked daunting, but the pace was slow enough to enjoy it. 

The University of Leicester’s Dr Emma Parker talked us through the relevant history and gave us a valuable insight into the life of Joe Orton from his humble beginnings, making plays in his garden with his sisters, to applying for a place at the Little Theatre. The subsequent demolition of his childhood home took away our sense of place as Emma read snippets from his teenage diary and his sister’s memoir (Leonie Orton, I Had It In Me). We also visited the University’s David Wilson Library that houses a ceramic pot made by Joe Orton’s niece, Rachel Barnett and a stencil artwork by street artist Stewy. We also stopped off at a local kebab shop that has been decorated by Leicester City Council with an image of Joe Orton to celebrate his success.

The highlight of the tour was the stop at the Pork Pie Library in the middle of the Saffron Lane estate where both writers grew up and visited in their youths. This magnificent old building has now acquired listed status and has retained some of the original interiors and fixtures. The head librarian Tracey Inchley was very keen to welcome us and gave us a fascinating talk about the library and its historical connections to the two writers. We saw the board game made by teenagers working on a 2017 exhibition about Joe Orton by Soft Touch Arts that reflected the struggles and pitfalls of growing up on the Saffron Lane Council Estate. Peter Simmonds talked enthusiastically about Sue Townsend as the reluctant writer, and creator of Adrian Mole, who never broadcasted her fame but remained faithful to her beloved Leicester all her life. He read snippets of Mole wisdom outside the buildings that were related to the text.

Combining gentle exercise with insight into two local literary heroes was a great idea and a tour that was well worth the effort. I recommend this event to the keen reader and the gentle cyclist alike. Many thanks to all those who were involved with organising and presenting on the day.

If you’d like to give it a go, this ride will run again during Leicester Comedy Festival / LGBT History Month in February. 

About the reviewer
Tracey Foster started off in a long career as an Art and Design teacher but wanted to refocus her creative energies into writing poetry and prose. After helping others find inspiration in the world around us, she has taken the MA course in Creative Writing at Leicester University and has not looked back. She finds inspiration in the past and the events that shape us. Previous work has been published by Comma Press, Ayaskala, Alternateroute, Fish Barrel Review, Mausoleum Press, Bus Poetry Magazine and The Arts Council.

Interview with Tim Relf

Tim Relf is a Leicestershire-based novelist. His most recent book, What She Left, was published by Penguin under the pen-name TR Richmond and his two previous novels, Stag and Home, were published by Piatkus. His day-job is as a journalist, specialising in writing about farming and the countryside. He's also contributed to national, regional and local papers and magazines, along with BookBrunch and The Bookseller. He's a tutor for the Professional Writing Academy, and has given guest lectures on fiction and the media at Nottingham Trent University and Harper Adams University.

What She Left is a psychological thriller about the life and death of a young woman told through the digital and paper trail she leaves. As well as telling the story from multiple perspectives and in a non-linear time frame, What She Left draws on multiple mediums, including newspaper and magazine articles, diary entries, emails, blog posts, Facebook and Twitter messages, letters, police transcripts and forum posts. Pitched at the literary end of the commercial market, it’s a contemporary epistolary novel – a modern story told in a very modern way. It was published in 21 countries and turned into an audio book starring Emilia Clarke and Charles Dance (who both starred in Game of Thrones). The Daily Telegraph included it in its must-read books of the year, and it was featured as a book club choice by the Daily Mail’s You magazine.

Q: Where did the original idea come from?

TR: It was actually on Twitter. I saw a tweet by someone about what piece of music they’d like played at their funeral and it struck me how bizarre and intimate that was to read. That got me thinking, what else could I learn about this person on Twitter, and that eventually took me to the idea of reassembling, jigsaw puzzle-like, a suspense story from a young woman’s digital and paper trail.

Q: Why did you write it in this format?

TR: I wanted to write a novel that not only passed comment on the way we receive / consume news and information these days, but was actually structured in that way. Hopefully it has something interesting to say about communication, the media and our digital identities, as well as such timeless issues as love, loss, revenge and redemption. Ultimately, I’m very conscious that the internet and social media have revolutionised how people relate to each other and communicate – and it was my fascination with this that drove the idea. Fact is, more than at any point in history, each of us leaves a digital footprint nowadays and it’s from this, jigsaw puzzle-like, that I wanted to reassemble my protagonist’s story.

Q: How do you do research?

TR: The internet is essential. Plus, I always badger people I know who are the same age as a particular character to find out what their cultural reference points are. Most of the research never gets used, but it helps shape my sense of a character. Who would they vote for? What do they like eating? What do they watch on TV? It’s details such as these that help you fashion a sense of someone which, in turn, helps you understand what decisions they’d make.

Q: What or who inspired you to become an author?

TR: I’ve always been preoccupied by capturing detail – whether that was keeping a diary as a kid or taking photographs. Maybe it’s because memory is fickle, but I’ve always worried about 'losing' the past. My desire to write was born out of the same sentiment – it’s partly about helping me remember. It’s also about wanting to start a dialogue with readers. When you publish a book, you’re saying to people: ‘This is how I see the world, what do you think?’

Q: Name a book that has impacted your life significantly.

TR: Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. I was a student doing a summer job in London when I read it. I’d got off a bus, was late for work and about 30 pages from the end, but just stood by the side of the road outside the office and carried on reading. I simply had to finish it. My boss even walked past me at one point and asked me if I was alright! If ever I need reminding of the power of books, I think of that moment.

Q: Give would-be writers one piece of advice.

TR: Have an amazing elevator pitch for your novel. If you can sum it up in a sentence, it'll massively improve its chances of getting picked up by a publisher.

Review by Ayana Sen-Handley, age 11, of "The Cats of Charnwood Forest" by Constantine

The Cats of Charnwood Forest is a charming, mythical story that entranced me from the first. I adore cats so it sounded perfect for me!

I thought the intricate detail with which the author described the surroundings added extra splashes of colour to the story and I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of Shadow, the kittens’ garden and the shrouded dream space that enabled the cats to move so swiftly.

Despite this, I felt the plot could have had more depth and clarity for I wanted to read more of certain things such as the mysterious riddle that concerned the fate of innumerable realms. Was there more to that than meets the eye?

The environmental message was very cleverly put, and how it portrays the human (and other) worlds being slowly poisoned by that of the wicked fairies is engrossing, but it could have been even more powerful.

The concluding cliff-hanger where Tenacious doesn’t recognise her kittens puzzled me because I think moms have better memories than elephants when it comes to their children!

Overall, this gripping book is beautifully written and packed full of interesting, charismatic characters – especially Ghaz’on. I would highly recommend this to anyone I know.

About the reviewer
Ayana Sen-Handley is eleven years old. A writer, artist, and performer, she has danced for the Welsh National Opera, and with Martine McCutcheon in the Broadway musical Elf, sung with G4 at Southwell Minster, performed on the West End, and as Dick Whittington in a Leicestershire pantomime this Christmas. She has also led an arts and crafts workshop for Nottingham City Council's Story Parks, and been published in several anthologies, including Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature's Speak Up. 

Review by Anthony Durham of "Modern Man is Ultra Quick" by Gavin William Wright

Often times, when current literature attempts to inspect culture, generational difference, and urban decay, the results are tedious or incongruent with reality. Many authors lack the skill or attention to detail to adequately blend the subject matters together in an appealing or authentic manner, or simply neglect one of the issues in favour of a personal diatribe. In the case of Modern Man is Ultra Quick, the reader can rest assured that neither instance is remotely close to happening.

In this work, Gavin William Wright triumphs over the underwhelming existence of the novel's English Midlands setting while engaging even the most cynical or dissonant reader.

We, the audience, are privy to a whirlwind tour through the crumbling streets of Leicester, and its surrounding suburbs. We meet a host of friends, siblings, acquaintances, lovers, and, like in life, people who fall somewhere in between these roles. In the course of the story, Wright provides unique insight into the diverse lives, thoughts, and feelings of these characters who act as avatars for the community as a whole. It's not just the "football mates" who struggle with the changing landscape and adulthood, but the shire as a whole, with the loss of industry and relative prosperity.

Modern Man is Ultra Quick bills itself as a book about "how to f*** things up with women," but, in truth, it's a book about the contradictions, the truth, the awfulness, the fears, and the inevitability that happens to all of us. A thrilling ride, and read, in all.


About the reviewer
Anthony Durham is an American expat living on the west coast of Norway. He has an avid interest in literature and journalism and is a member of the International English Honors Society. Unfortunately, he is also an Evertonian. 

Review by Lerah Mae Barcenilla of "Lost and Found: Stories of Home by Leicestershire Writers," ed. Farhana Shaikh, Beth-Ann Sher and Richard Sheehan

From tales set in Swedish refugee camps, houses filled with history, travelling circuses and even in space, Lost and Found: Stories of Home by Leicestershire Writers (Dahlia Publishing, 2016) captures the diversity of voices that whisper and shout from every corner of Leicester, as they weave the threads to create a tapestry stitched with the meanings of ‘home’.

There are tales that question the essence of home, how homes may differ from one to another, yet despite it all ‘we all go home eventually’ (as in the story 'Zenith') – no matter where that may be. There are powerful stories that tug at our heartstrings, the heartache that gets lodged in our throats, ‘the searing pain of loss’. And it’s there, in the hollowness of words, the gradual healing of cracks as one finds a new home (in the story 'Not Home').

There are tales of maybes, what ifs and of possibilities ('Adrian'). Tales laced with memory. Of something fond, but fuelled by trauma amidst vivid descriptions of football stadiums – beauty in its ‘terrible simplicity’ ('Home Game'). Tales that explore the search for a lost home and its connection with our very identity: ‘I know I’ve become a stranger to them, and to myself’ ('Back Home'). While there is something raw and vulnerable, the honest helplessness in the words ‘I can’t find the way home,’ but also the strange wistfulness in finding home in music ('Zöe K.'). We see a battle between familiarity and unfamiliarity, between staying and moving on. Tales of memory and forgetting; of separation, exploration and travel. Of uncertainty, reassurance and acceptance, ‘This is home now. Just be’ ('Moving the Furniture'). Yet behind the nostalgia and hope lurk something morbid, an unexpected dark turn of events (as in 'Colour').

Then there are stories that hit too close to home. Stories reminiscing about the curiosity that comes with the first year of university, and the melancholy that the final year brings. The uncertainty and fear that haunts the future, that prowls what comes after ('Home From Home'). And lastly, there are tales painted with the inevitable passing of time, and a homesickness for something lost. The story where one forgets and another remembers, and I’m not quite sure what’s worse (as in 'Shelter').

But, perhaps, it’s just like as Hermann Hesse wrote: 'every path leads home'. In this collection of short stories, we are given the privilege to peer into the lives of others, to glimpse, even for a moment, what ‘home’ means to them. And, maybe, in doing so, we’ll discover what ‘home’ means to us.


About the reviewer
Born in Manila, Philippines, Lerah Mae Barcenilla is currently a third year English undergraduate at the University of Leicester. Her writing has been published in The Student Wordsmith, The Purple Breakfast Review, PETRie Inventory and Culturefly. In her spare time, you can find her highly-caffeinated self idly scribbling on a notebook trying to write her two-somethings every day or taking photographs of cherry blossoms. You can find more of her writing and photography at https://leionai.wordpress.com/