When I was a lot younger, girls used to enjoy books set in ballet schools. Tendu is set in a ballet school but it’s not to be confused with stories like Belle of the Ballet.
Ailish Sinclair’s school is like no ballet school I’ve ever heard of. For a start, there are just seven students. Plus, the school is set in a Scottish castle (familiar to anyone who’s read Sinclair’s The Mermaid and the Bear). Most of the classes are conducted in a dungeon where a sinister ex-ballerina is wiring students up to analyse their brain patterns while they dance mysterious choreography that seems to give them some sort of super-powers.
Within this basic set-up there’s lots of room for the sort of relationship issues which might have been familiar to Belle of the Ballet. There’s the bitchy girl and the sweet girl and the boy that Amalphia (our heroine) has a long-time crush on. Belle of the Ballet probably didn’t have a gay best friend like Justin, but times have moved on since the 1950s and Justin is a lovely character.
I have friends who have been involved with professional ballet, so the bitchiness and the enthusiastic approach to sex was hardly shocking, though the key relationship between 19 year-old Amalphia and her 38 year-old teacher, Aleks, made me a little uncomfortable, as I was reading just as the Russell Brand story broke. As they swung wildly between emotional break-ups and fabulous make-up sex, I couldn’t help feeling that Amalphia, whose point of view we are seeing this from, is basically a teenage girl, wildly out of her depth in this relationship. The suggestion from one of her lover’s friends that she is just vanilla has her desperately trying to become more adventurous in her efforts to keep up with her rich, sophisticated boyfriend. I kept willing her to run. Run now! Don’t look back and keep running.
No spoilers, but she keeps starting to run and then looks back and then there is more passionate make-up sex. It certainly makes for a hugely readable and entertaining story and, in the end, Amalphia is not my daughter, so who am I to judge? Amalphia’s mother isn’t going to be any help. She is (let’s be blunt about this) a bitch, constantly undermining her daughter. So passionate encounters continue unabated.
Aleks has a Past, which intrudes from time to time, and he can’t resist trying to make Amalphia jealous – and she falls for it every time. Did I mention that she’s well out of her depth?
Meanwhile, Michelle, the mysterious ex-ballerina, continues her increasingly bizarre experiments, building towards a climax that is totally crazy but hugely entertaining.
So there we have it: mad experiments, paranormal powers, exciting dance sequences and lots and lots of sex. And did I mention the mystical forces in the old stone circle?
It’s insane, but hugely entertaining. Ailish Sinclair is a lovely writer and I powered through the book, though trying to pull together a remotely coherent review has taken rather longer. Let yourself go and enjoy the ride!
Buy the book
Tendu publishes on Kindle on 20 October and is available for pre-order now at £2.99. Or you can buy the paperback already for £12.99.
Also publishing this month …
The latest Galbraith & Pole book, Monsters in the Mist, will be published in time for Halloween. I’ll be writing about it on my blog on Friday. Watch out for the cover reveal and more news.
Ever since I wrote Something Wicked, with its climax in Brompton Cemetery, I’ve enjoyed London graveyards and, of course, I’m always up for anything Napoleonic. Last weekend I was able to combine the two interests with a tour of Kensal Green Cemetery looking at tombs linked to the Napoleonic Wars, followed by a talk and demonstrations of musket fire and Regency dancing.
The first tomb we visited was that of the Brunel family.
We weren’t there to honour the memory of Isambard Kingdom Brunel whose work we had admired recently in Bristol. We were there to pay our respects to his father, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel.
Sir Marc was born in France but, as a Royalist, he had to flee the country during the reign of terror. He went to the USA, where he built a successful career as an engineer. When he learned, though, that the Royal Navy was handicapped in its fight against Napoleon by the difficulty in producing the 100,000 pulley blocks a year needed to supply its ships, Sir Marc travel to England with plans to develop machinery that would produce pulley blocks more efficiently than the handcrafted blocks made up until then. By 1808, his factory was producing 130,000 blocks per year, a significant contribution to the war effort. Later, when the condition of soldiers’ boots became a national scandal, Sir Marc developed machinery to produce higher quality boots. Given that soldiers had often been marching on boots which had literally fallen apart, this, too, contributed toward Britain’s military success.
There were a few other civilian graves, but most of those we saw were soldiers. Of most interest to me was the tomb of Sir John Waters. Waters was one of Wellington’s Exploring Officers in Spain, a noted linguist and a useful spy. Some of Burke’s adventures in Burke in the Peninsula are based on the real-life escapades of Sir John. He died in 1842, aged 68.
There were some splendid military graves marking the burial site of unknown soldiers and thus not included in our official tour, but the stones are too magnificent to ignore. I particularly liked this one.
No tour of a Victorian cemetery is complete without a visit to the catacombs. Sadly, the condition of the catacomb burials we saw at Kensal Green was not nearly as good as at Brompton Cemetery. Under the Dissenters Chapel, most of the catacombs (basically giant pigeon-holes) are empty with the few remaining coffins wrapped in polythene as the contents threaten to spill out and then tucked away behind a locked door.
After our tour of the graves, with fascinating anecdotes about the people buried there, we were given talks on the Napoleonic Wars generally and the Battle of Waterloo in particular. Then came a treat as we were presented with a demonstration of musket/rifle drill. (One musket and one rifle.) There were several impressively loud bangs and a great deal of white smoke.
Survivors faced a bayonet charge.
After the battle, a few brave souls joined in a demonstration of a waltz of the period. The modern waltz not yet being in fashion, we were treated to something that looked more like a country dance, complete with a caller to make sure people took the right steps. It looked quite unlike any dances I have seen in Jane Austen films, though I suspect it was closer to reality (or would have been once people had more time to practice).
The dancing was followed by a display of the kit carried by soldiers at Waterloo. The basic kit bag was less heavy than I had expected (considerably less heavy than a soldier carries nowadays) but that was without the water bottle and the canvas bag containing the day’s rations. The musket or rifle (depending on regiment) was very heavy, as was the cartridge box filled with lead balls
We were, of course, handling all this in the dry. There was no proper waterproof clothing and the greatcoats, made of wool, will have become steadily heavier if worn in the rain. Until quite late in the war, backpacks were rolled up with no protection against rain at the sides, so blankets, too, will have become soaked and heavy. When you remember that there were no tents for private soldiers and that they would shelter under their blankets, the weight of the packs after a wet night does not bear thinking about.
There was a waterproof cover for headgear. The man may be wretched and soaked, but his shako will always have looked smart. Officers of the Napoleonic era clearly knew what mattered.
There was also a waterproof cover for the firing mechanism of the gun – the black patch in the photo below.
Waterproofing for firing mechanism
Looking at all the items the soldier carried gave a vivid picture of the vicissitudes of military life. A demonstration of striking a flint (you can see flint and steel at the bottom centre of the picture below) showed it’s not nearly as easy as they make it look on TV. In fact, you can’t get a spark big enough to light wood, so you have to carry char-cloth (literally charred cloth) to get started. That’s what’s in the little round box sat above the flint and steel.
Getting a fire started was essential if you planned to eat. Your salt beef and biscuit were inedible until they had been boiled in water. At least by 1815 you had your own tin mess tin (on the left, next to the bag) rather than sharing a big metal kettle that had to by carried by each group of mess-mates.
No wonder that even a hundred years later, Christopher Robin’s nanny explained to him that “A soldier’s life is terrible hard.”
A Word from Our Sponsor
It was lovely to take a day off and go back to the world of Napoleonic history because I’ve been lately been lost in a more contemporary fictional world of vampires and policemen as I finish the latest Galbraith & Pole book, Monsters in the Mist. The final edits have been made and the formatting has been finished , so we are on schedule for publication at the end of October. Next week I’ll be revealing the cover and telling you a little about the book.
It’s been a while since I put a book review on this blog, so it must be time for one.
English Eva and her Spanish partner, José, have restored an old house in the Spanish countryside and are planning to open it for wellness retreats. José has borrowed heavily to make their dream come true and is desperate for it to be a success. They decide to have a “soft opening” with just six guests who are offered a half price holiday while any problems are ironed out. Unfortunately for Eva and José, one of the guests harbours an old grudge. Things start to go wrong – little things at first, but by the end of the five-day holiday, there is murder afoot.
Karen King’s latest has distinct aspects of Agatha Christie. Gradually, we learn that almost all the characters have secrets in their past and almost any of them might have a reason for wanting the retreat to be a failure.
As the tension ramps up, so suspicion shifts from one guest to another. I ended up suspecting almost everyone in turn and I didn’t see the answer coming.
Karen King is a well-established writer and the book is an easy read. Her background as a romantic author is reflected in the romance between Eva and José at the beginning and another blossoming romance in the course of the story, but she does not allow these relationships to get in the way of her mystery. She also brings her love of Spain to the book, and particularly of Spanish food. The meals José provides (he’s a trained cook) are described in detail and the book will give you lots of menu ideas if nothing else. Eva’s wellness techniques are also covered which didn’t interest me as much, but that may just be because I’m greedy.
One of the things I struggle with in Agatha Christie books is the way that all the characters/suspects are introduced in a bunch and then I spend the rest of the book trying to remember which one was the pilot’s ex-girlfriend and which had the sister who had an affair with the pianist. This could so easily have been the same, with six guests arriving together and some important relationships between them and their hosts. It’s not a problem here, though. There’s an English couple (she’s the one with a dark memory), an American couple, both weird but she’s weirder, an old friend of Eva (shares a Dark Secret) and a cousin of José (also with a Dark Secret). King makes it easy to keep track of them all and their respective links to Eva and José.
Whodunnit? And will Eva and José’s relationship survive once their own secrets come out? No spoilers here: you’ll have to read it to find out.
A fun read to extend that summer feeling a little longer.
Publishing 13 October
The Retreat will be published on 13 October and is available for pre-order now HERE. It’s just £1.99 on Amazon or £9.67 in paperback.
A Word from our Sponsor
Also publishing in October will be the third of my Urban Fantasy stories featuring the vampire detective, Chief Inspector Pole. Urban Fantasy is a bit misleading here because this story finds the urbane Pole well out of his comfort zone investigating a murder in the mid-Wales hills. I’ll be telling you more (much more) about Monsters in the Mist over the next few weeks.
From 16 September, ‘Burke in Ireland’ will be just 99p on Kindle for five days. Sales of the Burke books have fallen off a little over summer so I decided to do a price promotion on one of them and, from an admittedly limited selection, this was the one readers came up with.
‘Burke in Ireland’ is quite a good place to start reading the series. Although the first book, ‘Burke in the Land of Silver’ begins with Burke’s experience in the French army before he even started fighting for the British, ‘Burke in Ireland’ tells the story of his first adventure in espionage. It’s so early that the trusty William Brown, who plays a major role in all the other books, only arrives in this one at the end.
‘Burke in Ireland’ is the darkest of all the Burke books, reflecting the fact that England’s military occupation was an uncomfortable period – one that reaches across the centuries to the Troubles and England’s longest ever military operation. The English rigged the courts and, if that failed, were happy to use torture and brutality to maintain control. French agents were actively spreading sedition and the English countered them with a network of spies of their own.
Burke, Irish by birth, is plunged headlong into this world of plots and counter-plots. He finds himself sympathising with many of the Nationalists but shocked by the thuggery of some of their leaders – a thuggery that he is soon caught up in as he seeks to penetrate their organisations.
The story centres on the breakout of Archibald Hamilton Rowan from Dublin’s Newgate prison in 1794. Hamilton’s escape combines face and tragedy in equal measure. It’s a story that is completely true, but difficult to believe. I give Burke a role in the escape which goes some way to making it more credible. Who knows? Perhaps British agents were involved which might explain how a rebel leader was able to just walk out of gaol and make his way to France (where the French promptly arrested him).
Burke’s experiences in Ireland go some way to explaining his cynicism later in his career. It’s an important story in his life and a fascinating glimpse into the history of Ireland. I hope you enjoy it.
I imagine that everybody who reads this blog has realised by now that I write historical fiction. What I think some people still don’t know is that I have a sideline in Urban Fantasy.
I enjoy writing Urban Fantasy. It takes more research than I had expected. Sometimes I need to consult 16th century French volumes about werewolves. Other times I’m checking maps of the Palace of Westminster or the type of weaponry favoured by Special Forces. It’s still massively easier than all the historical research that underlies the Burke series. The field trips, too, are much simpler. A visit to Brompton cemetery is much less demanding than a trip to Portugal, although Portugal was a more romantic place to have a holiday.
What exactly is Urban Fantasy? Basically, it’s fantasy stories, featuring such old-time favourites as vampires and werewolves, but set in realistic contemporary settings.
A vampire hero
I’m just finishing the third of my Galbraith & Pole books. These all feature a Metropolitan Police detective, Chief Inspector Galbraith, who has ended up partnering Chief Inspector Pole from the mysterious Section S. While Galbraith is very human, Pole is a vampire. To start with, Galbraith is uncomfortable working with the Undead, but gradually they become good friends. I like to think of the books as police procedurals with added bite.
Why a vampire? The idea came to me on a visit to Buenos Aires, a city distinguished by amazing cemeteries in which the dead rest in little houses that form busy streets. Buenos Aires is, of course, also famous for tango. Tango in South America is mainly a nocturnal activity and I found it easy to imagine the dead leaving their mausolea to dance. Tango songs often feature death and lost love, so I thought they would appeal to vampires.
Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires
My beloved explained gently to me that English readers might struggle with a story set in a country and culture they didn’t know. Could I move my vampires to London, for example? So I came up with a vampire sub-culture based around Brompton Cemetery.
Brompton Cemetery, London
The idea of Urban Fantasy is to have your fantastical creatures firmly based in the real world. Could I make a credible 21st century vampire?
Creating vampires that could live among us involved I certain amount of tweaking of the vampire legend. Obviously my vampires can’t go out in daylight, although high factor sunscreen can extend their operating hours a little. They wouldn’t be vampires if they didn’t drink blood, but they really don’t need that much blood and the vampire subculture does have humans who get a kick out of making donations – or, at a pinch, there is animal blood. Like traditional vampire, it takes piercing the heart to kill them, although a stake is not necessary: a bullet will do the job just as well.
Chief Inspector Pole explains that many of the other attributes people ascribe to vampires are just myths. He enjoys garlic and it’s perfectly possible to take his photo.
Pole dislikes the term ‘vampire’, which he thinks has negative connotations. Instead, he prefers to speak of ‘the Others’, as opposed to the Mortals they live amongst. They are able to hide in plain sight because of a long-standing arrangement whereby they make their services available to the Crown in exchange for a blind eye being turned to their existence.
Pole used to be called Paole. Perhaps he is related to the historical vampire Arnold Paole, who lived in Serbia in the early 18th century and whose vampiric activities were the subject of an official report by the Austrian authorities. Who knows?
Do I believe in vampires? Let’s put it this way: in the tango clubs of London I meet people who seem to have been dancing for decades but who never show signs of aging. And I’ve never seen them out by daylight.
Monsters in the Mist
I’m just finishing the third Galbraith & Pole story, which finds them out of London, hunting a mysterious killer in rural mid-Wales. Both Galbraith and Pole are creatures of the city and entirely out of their comfort zone on open moorland with nothing to disturb the silence but sheep. There is something out on the hills, though: something that has killed once and may well kill again.
Our heroes’ search for the secret behind the monsters takes them to Porton Down, where scientists are pushing genetic research into dangerous areas. It ends in a bloody climax at a secret military base hidden at the end of a service road on the M4.
Porton Down is a real place as is the secret military base. In this crazy 21st century world, is it really the vampires that are the hardest thing to believe?
The Galbraith & Pole series
The first Galbraith & Pole book, Something Wicked, sees Pole working with Galbraith to track down rogue vampires who have killed a member of the House of Lords. There’s a lot of tango. (I told you that vampires like tango.)
The second book, Eat the Poor, asks, if your MP was a werewolf, would anybody notice.
Both books are available on Amazon as paperbacks or on Kindle.
Monsters in the Mist will be looking for beta readers in the next week or two. I’m hoping it will be ready in time for Halloween. That seems appropriate.
