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Letting Go of Yesterday by Jo Bartlett #Review #TheCornishBayCollection

  We are back to Cornwall to the community of Port Agnes with Jo Bartlett. Letting Go of Yesterday , the first in a new series, was published by Boldwood on November 9th . Sometimes the only way forward… is to go back. When Rowan Bellamy’s marriage collapses in spectacular styl e, she retreats with her two children, Bella and Theo, to the last place she ever wanted to return—her windswept Cornish hometown of Port Agnes. Taking the headteacher role at the local primary school is the easy part. Facing village gossip, curious neighbours, and old flames? Not so much. Especially when one of those flames turns out to be Nathan Lark — the boy who broke her heart and the man who now has a reputation as bruised as her own. With his young nephew Leo a pupil in Rowan’s school, she and Nathan are thrown into each other’s lives once more. And whether she likes it or not, the chemistry between them is impossible to ignore. As salty sea air begins to soothe old wounds and Port Agnes slow...
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Jihadi: A Love Story by Yusuf Toropov

 Jihadi: A Love Story is a psychological thriller which I found to be an extremely challenging read. I was reading it at the time that the atrocities in Brussels were occurring and I found it difficult to engage with the subject matter. It is a complicated plot line which cannot easily be skimmed over. It makes the reader evaluate the truth and there are many twists and turns as the story develops.

     It begins in a secret terrorist prison cell where a former intelligence agent is being held and has written his memoir. This memoir is being assessed by a psychologist who annotates the text from her own perspective. The trouble is, it is very difficult to know who is to be trusted. You can't make assumptions about any part of it. Extremists are on both sides. 

     Told through the lives of a range of characters, the story poses questions as to the nature of terrorism, religious fervour, leadership and fanaticism. Moving backwards and forwards in time, different stories are woven together. On  Safen Maken Findley's blog, the author, Yusuf Toropov has posted a guest post on the writing of Jihadi. You can read it here.

 Thanks to Orenda Books for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.





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