The Gifts by Liz Hyder – Blog Tour Book Review
About the Book
For fans of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock and The Doll Factory, The Gifts is a Victorian-esque epic novel that tells of the pitfalls of ambition and the beauty and struggles of womanhood. It is a gripping and ambitious book told through five different perspectives and set against the luminous backdrop of nineteenth century London. It explores science, nature and religion, enlightenment, the role of women in society and the dark danger of ambition. In a society that dictates how women should live, what happens when they start to break out of the mould created for them…
‘Come Etta, she says to herself. Come. Open your eyes. Whatever it is, the worst must surely be over. Wrung out and exhausted, she edges slowly to her feet, wobbles as she comes to stand. But she has no need to turn her head. The sun emerges from the clouds above, stretching Etta’s shadow far in front and taking her breath away with it. It is impossible. It cannot be……’
October 1840. A young woman staggers alone through a forest in Shropshire as a huge pair of impossible wings rip themselves from her shoulders. Meanwhile, when rumours of a ‘fallen angel’ cause a frenzy across London, a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grips of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the women he seeks in the most terrible danger.
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About the Author
Liz grew up in London and was a member of the National Youth Theatre for four years before studying Drama at Bristol University. She worked at the BBC’s publicity department for six years on everything from EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty to Radio 4 before going freelance. Since then, she’s been the Film Programme Co-Ordinator at Hay Festival and worked on numerous PR campaigns for books, theatre, festivals and events. She runs creative writing workshops for all ages and is on the board of Wales Arts Review. She lives in the medieval market town of Ludlow in South Shropshire, surrounded by books and plants. She is an aspiring gardener, an amateur naturalist and a keen walker of hills. Follow Liz on Twitter / IG: @londonbessie
Liz Hyder burst onto the literary scene last year with her acclaimed YA novel Bearmouth (Pushkin Press), which won both the 2020 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Readers and the Branford Boase Award 2020. It was named a Book of the Year 2019 by the Financial Times, The Observer, Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, New Statesman, BBC Radio 4 Extra and was hailed overall Children’s Book of the Year by The Times, who also predicted Hyder would ‘become a household name’. Bearmouth has sold in multiple territories across the world, and a film adaptation is currently in development with Binocular Productions.
What I Thought
Woah. This book packs a punch.
I will first share some trigger warnings for: animal (dog) cruelty (aka not one for my friend Jay), dissection, surgery, infertility, narcissism and all of the patriarchy.
This is an historical tale with a modern feminist outlook and a soupçon of magical realism.
It is told from the perspectives of five different characters. Etta, Natalya, Mary, Annie and Edward. The story alternates between them with very short chapters which aids with pacing and helps to keep you reading. There was some head hopping within these chapters which did take me out of the story a little at times in order that I could double check whose perspective we were with.
I read an ARC but am intrigued to see the illustrations alluded to in the final copy – Annie is an artist and Edward also likes to document his discoveries.
One of the reasons given for potential infertility was “Reading too Much.” Not going lie that line hurt. But it also reminded me of the list of ridiculous reasons that women were put into asylums. Be you not meek and docile you are a threat to patriarchy!
The male characters in this were mostly (with a notable exception) fairly rotten; in particular Edward and his colleague. The inhumanity shown in an early amputation scene which was completed as a display of who was fastest and not who was safest was only the start of the cruelty shown. Just because ‘man’ can do something doesn’t mean we should. It might have well been penis measuring or shooting rockets into space or starting an unnecessary war! Edward reminded me of Frankenstein and this book had a gothic slant. Morality, religion and science were themes explored throughout.
All in all this book is sumptuously written and realised but it did bite a little close to home at the moment.
The female characters were all unique and you root for them and there is enough hope to cut through the disturbance.
However, if you like your books neatly wrapped up with all questions answered – such as why the women grow wings – then you may not be as keen on how thus story concludes, but if you are in the mood for a challenging and dynamic read then pick this up and allocate time to dissecting it (pardon the pun).
Thank you to Tracey at Compulsive Readers and the publishers for the gifted copy for the purposes of an honest review.
Check out the rest of the blog tour by following #TheGifts
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Queer Up by Alexis Caught – Blog Tour Book Extract
Hi all and welcome to my spot on the blog tour for Queer Up by Alexis Caught. Today I’m sharing an extract from the book on Allyship.
About the Book
Queer Up is an insightful and empowering guide which takes young people by the hand, and offers uplifting advice and activities to help readers through life’s challenges and instil them with confidence and pride. The book provides an inclusive account of what it means to grow up queer, with chapters on questioning, coming out, friends and family, love and relationships, sex, shame, pride, being transgender and/or non-binary and allyship, with a key focus on positive mental health strategies. The book also features personal stories from notable LGBTQ+ figures and allies, including award-winning transgender activist Charlie Craggs, author and journalist Kuchenga, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, writer and producer Russell T Davies, and writer and activist Scarlett Curtis.
Walker Books will be donating 20p for every copy sold to Shout 85258, a free, confidential, 24/7 text support service for anyone in the UK who is struggling to cope, for which Alexis is an ambassador and trained mental health volunteer. 45% of young people who text Shout 85258 identify as LGBTQ+.
“This books is like a big, queer hug, every bit of advice is a lesson in how to be confidently LGBTQ+ and happy.” – Dr Ranj Singh
About the Author
Alexis Caught is the creator and co-host of the British Podcast Award-winning LGBTQ+ podcast Qmmunity, exploring queer culture, history and identity. He is also a mental health advocate, qualified psychotherapist, writer, speaker, model and rugby player. His writing has been featured in Attitude magazine and The Mirror along with the best-selling anthology It’s Not Okay to Feel Blue. His areas of passion and expertise are mental health, wellness and the queer community. On talking about the book, Alexis said this is the book that he “so desperately needed when [he] was 14.”
Extract on Allyship
What does an ally do?
Take a minute to think about what you’re actually, proactively doing to support LGBTQ+ people.
• Whether you know them or not, if you see or hear someone being made fun of, are you speaking up or is your silence deafening?
• When you’re with friends and your unfunny mate tells another gay joke, are you challenging them or are you just not responding?
• When the phrase “that’s so gay! ” gets thrown about, are you challenging them or are you letting it slide in a way you’d never let someone say “that’s so Black” or “that’s so Jewish” as a way of meaning something bad?
• If somebody is outed or gossiped about, are you indulging in the gossip and spreading rumours or putting it to bed with a “so what?” and expecting better of your friends.
• When considering what television show to watch, do you think about what kind of jokes the characters make or what message their storylines are sending? Do you stop watching it if hosts or characters say homophobic or transphobic things? When you think about how much you like other celebrities, are you considering their behaviour and the things they’ve said?
• If a problematic relative is going off on one about how “everything’s too liberal these days” are you just letting them dominate and set the tone or are you making it clear that no, you don’t agree, and speaking about people in derogatory ways is not OK?
• If you have siblings, cousins or friends who may be LGBTQ+, are you helping to make sure that they know they are free to be themselves and express themselves however they like around you? And that you love and support them unconditionally?
• Are you actively creating a safe space that your friends can go to and be their authentic selves, knowing they can trust you and that you’ll never share their secrets or judge them?
I apologize if you found the last few paragraphs confronting, uncomfortable or challenging. Self-reflection is often very uncomfortable. Thank you for sticking with it. We need to be able to have uncomfortable conversations to get anywhere. The starting point of doing better is always reflecting on how well we’re doing now. But I also want to clarify — if you found yourself awkwardly recognizing that you might be guilty of some of those behaviours, I don’t blame you. I don’t think you’re a bad person. I don’t believe there is a single person on this earth who isn’t at least 0.1 per cent homophobic — even LGBTQ+ people can be, and are, homophobic or transphobic. All of us are a little bit because it’s how we were raised. But that’s not an excuse and it’s up to us to educate ourselves and do better.
Education plays a huge part in becoming a great ally. The first step (and it’s a continual process) is to educate yourself — and you’re already doing that! So, whether or not you already knew that when you picked up this book, you’ve already taken a great step forward and I’m so pleased to have you on this journey with us — your friends and siblings will be too.
What is not allyship?
Being an ally is not a fixed status, one that you achieve once and then get to not think about again. It is something that must be consistently practised, regardless of who is around us. Allyship is not a party trick, something you perform in front of us and other people for praise. Being an ally is something you do when we’re not in the room and, even more importantly, when you’re then the odd one out for calling out queerphobic behaviour.
Being an ally is not a title you can award yourself, it is earned and given to you by those you support. Importantly, it’s also not an opportunity to put yourself in the spotlight. Think of it like this: in most films and TV shows queer characters are sidelined and become “the gay best friend” and are just a token. But this is our film, we’re the main characters and a good ally is a supporting cast member.
Power and privilege
Without allyship, what is friendship and support of the LGBTQ+ people around you? Being neutral is only an option for people with privilege and power. There is nothing inherently wrong with having that privilege or power, that isn’t your fault as you didn’t decide to have it (just as we didn’t decide to be queer) — but what you do with it is your decision.
Whatever the equality and rights movement, it needs allies, but they cannot be centred within the conversation, otherwise a space and a movement designed to bring greater power to a minority can quickly become a place where that minority is once again marginalized and made a side feature in their own story. All too often this happens to LGBTQ+ people — in particular to women, people of colour and trans people as sexism and racism are still social issues within the LGTBQ+ world.
The important thing for an ally to do is to use their inherent power and privilege to help others. Don’t change the narrative of our story to build up your part or get more lines. Instead, please tell our stories and share our stories. Use your voice, your power, for that. Echo us, don’t talk over us.
Copyright © 2022 Alexis Caught
Cover design and Illustrations © 2022 Walker Books Ltd.
From QUEER UP: AN UPLIFTING GUIDE TO LGBTQ+ LOVE, LIFE AND MENTAL HEALTH by Alexis Caught
Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London, SE11 5HJ
Being an Ally is a constant journey and reading books like this to educate ourselves and find out more about why our Allyship is needed is a really good place to start.
Check out the other spots on the tour. Thanks to Walker for the #gifted copy of the book, the pin and the postcards.
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#42for22 – 2022 Reading Challenge
On the 22nd of December, what better day to share our 2022 reading challenge – hosted by Jay (@jkkenobi) Stacey (@svmitche) Catherine (@catrad) and me (@kirstyes). Yes, we are back for the 4th year. This time using the hashtag #42for22.
We’ve all gone for one word prompts which you can use to inspire your book choice in any way you choose. And we have used Michelle’s initials in memory of her – again to be used how you wish. Our entire challenge last year was dedicated to Michelle who passed away in 2020. We still miss you Mich.
As ever, if it is on Goodreads it counts.
If it is audio, e, paperback or hardback it counts.
If it’s a re-read or a new read it counts.
Ideally you’d pick one book per prompt but if you are short of time and still want to take part, if a book fits two or more prompts, pop it down.
If you find one book that fits all 42 prompts together we want to know what it is!
Here’s the challenge image made by Catherine.
And the spreadsheet can be downloaded from Dropbox here.
There are 9 days of the year left and I have two books left to read for our 2021 challenge #42forMich, and nine books left to read to hit my Goodreads challenge of 150 (this will be my lowest total since 2015!). I am actually part way through 9 books so the hopes is I get at least all of them all finished. Wish me reading luck.
I will aim to do a wrap up post and tell you briefly about my favourite books this year on the 31st (famous last words).
Hope everyone has read some awesome books this year and here is to reading some brilliant ones for this challenge next year.
kirstyes 