Ash Mountain by Helen Fitzgerald is published by Orenda Books on 14th May. I am delighted to be able to participate in the blog tour to celebrate its launch and to offer a great Giveaway- an e-copy of the book. If you enjoyed The Cry on the BBC, you will be keen to read Helen's latest thriller.
Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she’d escaped. But
her father is ill, and needs care. Her relationship is over, and she hates her
dead-end job in the city, anyway.
She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant
teenage daughter in tow for the weekends. There, in the sleepy town of Ash
Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in
love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the
unbearable heat of an Australian summer.
As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones
forged, Fran’s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old
crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of
its inhabitants…
Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town
life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing
account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever, Ash Mountain is a
heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that
you will never forget…
My Thoughts
As the pace of the story gets ever more frantic, you feel the heat of the fires as if they are licking at your feet. There are some serious issues which rear their head from the past but alongside those, there is a certain black humour and excruciating moments for Fran. The action moves back and forward in time from thirty years previously to the present day. By the end, you feel that all the sins of the past are being scorched by the fire. The flames are relentless and pitiless.
As the story develops, you get to look into the lives of different inhabitants and to see what happened to Fran all those years ago when she was a teenager. You know that the fire is coming and when it arrives, the writing seems to go onto a different level. I especially loved the frantic calls going into the emergency services. Knowing of the recent bush fires in Australia and taking on board that the cover picture was taken by a father of his daughter during the fires, you feel that there is a special connection between the author and the subject. It is raw and it is real.
In short: An inferno of a novel.
About the Author
Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of ten adult and
young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was
longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and is now
a major drama for BBC1. Her 2019 dark comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a
Book of the Year in both The Guardian and Daily Telegraph. Helen worked as a
criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years. She grew up in Victoria,
Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband.
You can read my review of Worst Case Scenario here.
Thanks to Helen Fitzgerald, Karen Sullivan and Anne Cater of Orenda Books for a copy of the books and a place on the tour.
Check up on the rest of the tour!
Giveaway (Worldwide)
To win an e-copy of Ash Mountain, just Follow and Retweet the pinned Tweet at @bookslifethings and good luck!
Closing Date is 10th May 2020
and there is one winner.
*Terms and Conditions – UK only. The winner will be selected at
random via Tweetdraw from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter
and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right
to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the
competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with
third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed
to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize. I am not
responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Huge thanks Pam xx
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