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"I’m going over there, of course” she said, “If anyone’s in charge of Jesus it’s going to be me.”
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is in turns funny, sad, tragic and claustrophobic. It’s a story of missing cats, stolen babies, Jesus appearing in a suburban avenue and of course the mysterious disappearance of Mrs Creasy; has she been murdered or has she merely left due to the incessant heat of the Summer? 10-year-old Grace and Tilly are determined to find out.
Unfortunately, all the adults are covering up secrets and half-truths that only the missing saintly Mrs Creasy knows about. Can anyone be trusted in an Avenue where the neighbours have graduated from curtain twitching to ….. exactly how far have they gone? If God is everywhere, is he in the Avenue too and can he tell the Goats from the Sheep?
This is a surprisingly light charming story set during a heat wave in the summer of 1976 and one cold eventful winter in 1967. The children are equal parts naivety and insightful. The adults equal parts comedic and dark. The children learn the true meaning of friendship and the adults, well they get to know who really are the goats and who are the sheep.
There are a few minor faults that don’t detract from the charm of the story. Grace speaks in language to old for her age and then she seems to behave in a manner to young for her age. I also have a question re Tilly at the end of the book (you will have to read it to find out).
However, all in all, this is a recommended sweet whodunit read.
The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is in turns funny, sad, tragic and claustrophobic. It’s a story of missing cats, stolen babies, Jesus appearing in a suburban avenue and of course the mysterious disappearance of Mrs Creasy; has she been murdered or has she merely left due to the incessant heat of the Summer? 10-year-old Grace and Tilly are determined to find out.
Unfortunately, all the adults are covering up secrets and half-truths that only the missing saintly Mrs Creasy knows about. Can anyone be trusted in an Avenue where the neighbours have graduated from curtain twitching to ….. exactly how far have they gone? If God is everywhere, is he in the Avenue too and can he tell the Goats from the Sheep?
This is a surprisingly light charming story set during a heat wave in the summer of 1976 and one cold eventful winter in 1967. The children are equal parts naivety and insightful. The adults equal parts comedic and dark. The children learn the true meaning of friendship and the adults, well they get to know who really are the goats and who are the sheep.
There are a few minor faults that don’t detract from the charm of the story. Grace speaks in language to old for her age and then she seems to behave in a manner to young for her age. I also have a question re Tilly at the end of the book (you will have to read it to find out).
However, all in all, this is a recommended sweet whodunit read.
“In the very old times, when mousehood was a wretched thing, and filled with misery as a female is with young, the world was a place of great beauty; rich as lemon curd with crumbs and shadows.”
I could describe this simply as a dark, disturbing fairy-tale and in a way, I would be right. We have familiar themes here, neglected children left to fend for themselves, fairy grandmothers (who are more than they seem and that may have come to save the day), evil rent collection men with tempting lollipops (who remind one of a certain big bad wolf) and of course magical mice, generations and generations of them.
However, it is much more than that. We are never quite certain who the victim, heroes, and villains are (with one notable exception). The story is told from various perspectives by the cutlery, the mother, the house, the mice, Marie, her twin and even the rent man.
The prose is distinctive and to give you a taste of it I have used a few quotes to describe some of the characters.
Knives and other cutlery (I loved the family of nail clippers): “The greatest among creatures is the knife. Metal is old as planets; knives are the most primitive living things. A knife is a locked disaster, dormant for centuries, mostly safe enough for chopping vegetables. One might even forget that a knife is alive.”
The Mother: “When you are bitten right through with guilt, it gets so you daren’t say a word, just in case you blurt out a confession instead of the offer of a cup of tea.”
The House: “Our House tried to warm its skin in the sudden sunshine of spring. I could feel its low grumble of pleasure, but at night the joists would clock and groan as heat leached into the clear, star-infested skies.”
The many generations of mice searching for the answers and resorting to and abandoning various religions on the way: “A mousetrap is irresistible. It’s an idiots' death, a hero’s death, for curiosity is the noblest virtue that there is, next to love; next to rescuing.”
Marie: “Days crawled past, softly, the way the fruit turns rotten, and I was alone. I dreamed of a shadow at my side when I slept, and when I woke I crept about the house like a thief, gazing numbly at closed drawers and my mother’s wardrobe."
The grandmother doesn’t have a voice but we hear all about her from the other characters: "...its wren against crow, robin against missile thrush. In this way she rules over them; the songbirds decide which amount their numbers must sacrifice their wings, for if they do not then the grandmother will choose herself…”
Of all the characters the mice are the most developed, they have had generations to do so. They speak of the importance of understanding, of dealing with guilt, of revenge and more guilt. They are in turns heroes and villains, loyal acolytes and atheists, always trying to understand the nature of mousekind. While the humans, in turn, avoid questions, and memories and even the necessities of day to day lives.
The overall theme (moral?) of the tale is that every creature is subject to and cannot escape from its own nature. Only the mice begin to achieve an understanding of this.
Overall I really enjoyed this, I found my reading pace was slow due to the density of this prose. I could only read so long before I found myself having to stop and let the story sort of settle in. Not actually a bad thing. I very strongly suspect that I will enjoy this one even more as re read and look forward to reading another Paprika Tarrant.
This book is recommended for those who like dark tales, a lot of magical realism, some pretty nifty prose and do not need their endings tied up in a red bow.
PS a word to the publishers Salt Publishing. There are a number of typos clustered around chapter 42 - which has the wrong name on it!
I could describe this simply as a dark, disturbing fairy-tale and in a way, I would be right. We have familiar themes here, neglected children left to fend for themselves, fairy grandmothers (who are more than they seem and that may have come to save the day), evil rent collection men with tempting lollipops (who remind one of a certain big bad wolf) and of course magical mice, generations and generations of them.
However, it is much more than that. We are never quite certain who the victim, heroes, and villains are (with one notable exception). The story is told from various perspectives by the cutlery, the mother, the house, the mice, Marie, her twin and even the rent man.
The prose is distinctive and to give you a taste of it I have used a few quotes to describe some of the characters.
Knives and other cutlery (I loved the family of nail clippers): “The greatest among creatures is the knife. Metal is old as planets; knives are the most primitive living things. A knife is a locked disaster, dormant for centuries, mostly safe enough for chopping vegetables. One might even forget that a knife is alive.”
The Mother: “When you are bitten right through with guilt, it gets so you daren’t say a word, just in case you blurt out a confession instead of the offer of a cup of tea.”
The House: “Our House tried to warm its skin in the sudden sunshine of spring. I could feel its low grumble of pleasure, but at night the joists would clock and groan as heat leached into the clear, star-infested skies.”
The many generations of mice searching for the answers and resorting to and abandoning various religions on the way: “A mousetrap is irresistible. It’s an idiots' death, a hero’s death, for curiosity is the noblest virtue that there is, next to love; next to rescuing.”
Marie: “Days crawled past, softly, the way the fruit turns rotten, and I was alone. I dreamed of a shadow at my side when I slept, and when I woke I crept about the house like a thief, gazing numbly at closed drawers and my mother’s wardrobe."
The grandmother doesn’t have a voice but we hear all about her from the other characters: "...its wren against crow, robin against missile thrush. In this way she rules over them; the songbirds decide which amount their numbers must sacrifice their wings, for if they do not then the grandmother will choose herself…”
Of all the characters the mice are the most developed, they have had generations to do so. They speak of the importance of understanding, of dealing with guilt, of revenge and more guilt. They are in turns heroes and villains, loyal acolytes and atheists, always trying to understand the nature of mousekind. While the humans, in turn, avoid questions, and memories and even the necessities of day to day lives.
The overall theme (moral?) of the tale is that every creature is subject to and cannot escape from its own nature. Only the mice begin to achieve an understanding of this.
Overall I really enjoyed this, I found my reading pace was slow due to the density of this prose. I could only read so long before I found myself having to stop and let the story sort of settle in. Not actually a bad thing. I very strongly suspect that I will enjoy this one even more as re read and look forward to reading another Paprika Tarrant.
This book is recommended for those who like dark tales, a lot of magical realism, some pretty nifty prose and do not need their endings tied up in a red bow.
PS a word to the publishers Salt Publishing. There are a number of typos clustered around chapter 42 - which has the wrong name on it!
“The heat came with the devil. It was the summer of 1984, and while the devil had been invited, the heat had not. It should've been expected, though. Heat is, after all, the devil's name, and when's the last time you left home without yours?”
Believe the hype; this one is will grip you and ring out your last remaining emotion and then use you to mop all the feels back up, only to start the process all over.
The premise is simple enough. The Devil is invited to a small American town called Breathed during the summer of 1984. A young black boy turns up claiming to be Satan and with his arrival comes a heatwave. The boy finds a new family, the townsfolk grow slowly insane with the heat and then the journalists arrive.
The story is told from a 13-year-old boy Fielding's perspective, told both during the memorable summer and as a serious of flashback on his life remembered in the present day told as an old man. It becomes pretty clear from adult Fielding’s life that something terrible happened that summer. This is a story of 1984, its racism and its homophobia. It is a coming of age and the loss of innocence of a boy and a town.
Recommended to fans of literary fiction who like poetic language, larger than life characters and who are not afraid of a tearful ending.
Believe the hype; this one is will grip you and ring out your last remaining emotion and then use you to mop all the feels back up, only to start the process all over.
The premise is simple enough. The Devil is invited to a small American town called Breathed during the summer of 1984. A young black boy turns up claiming to be Satan and with his arrival comes a heatwave. The boy finds a new family, the townsfolk grow slowly insane with the heat and then the journalists arrive.
The story is told from a 13-year-old boy Fielding's perspective, told both during the memorable summer and as a serious of flashback on his life remembered in the present day told as an old man. It becomes pretty clear from adult Fielding’s life that something terrible happened that summer. This is a story of 1984, its racism and its homophobia. It is a coming of age and the loss of innocence of a boy and a town.
Recommended to fans of literary fiction who like poetic language, larger than life characters and who are not afraid of a tearful ending.
Fun and entertaining fantasy novel about a Band (of Mercenaries) that gets together for one last comeback tour (mission) before retiring their guitars swords. In short a well constructed world, face paced plot, entertaining characters and a OMG they killed Kenny our Bard style of humour.
I had difficulty concentrating on the audiobook on this one (kept falling asleep) and may pick up the next installment in hardcopy otherwise thoroughly recommended.
I had difficulty concentrating on the audiobook on this one (kept falling asleep) and may pick up the next installment in hardcopy otherwise thoroughly recommended.
This is a story about a boy who loves books and runs away from home and lives in a Library.
This is a story written by an author who likes to describe the food people eat, the clothes they wear, their washing rituals and sexual encounters in very blunt and plain language.
This is a story where a man can talk to cats and a boy to a crow boy. The cats in this story are wise and funny. The dog not so much.
This is a story about an oedipal prophecy that may or may not comes true.
In this story one character can only live in the past, where she is forever 15, the other can only live in the present, because of something that happened in the past.
This story includes some important interventions by Colonel Sanders and Johnnie Walker.
This is a story about the beauty of the imperfections in playing a piece of music.
This is the story about a man who cannot be a male chauvinistic because he is a woman.
This is a story filled with hidden dimensions and X-file mysteries.
This was not a story to fall asleep too while listening on audible; it led to crazy dreams.
This story refuses to follow the rules of narrative and will ask more questions than it answers.
Is this the story for you? It was for me.
This is a story written by an author who likes to describe the food people eat, the clothes they wear, their washing rituals and sexual encounters in very blunt and plain language.
This is a story where a man can talk to cats and a boy to a crow boy. The cats in this story are wise and funny. The dog not so much.
This is a story about an oedipal prophecy that may or may not comes true.
In this story one character can only live in the past, where she is forever 15, the other can only live in the present, because of something that happened in the past.
This story includes some important interventions by Colonel Sanders and Johnnie Walker.
This is a story about the beauty of the imperfections in playing a piece of music.
This is the story about a man who cannot be a male chauvinistic because he is a woman.
This is a story filled with hidden dimensions and X-file mysteries.
This was not a story to fall asleep too while listening on audible; it led to crazy dreams.
This story refuses to follow the rules of narrative and will ask more questions than it answers.
Is this the story for you? It was for me.
“When we first came here, I told him this house had secrets. I warned him. And he flew into one of his rages and forbade me ever to speak if such things again. Promised to cast me out if I did. Seems no sense in changing that now.”
This is a creepy gothic tale of a 17th century Hall and sheep farm on the moors of Yorkshire. The plot is worthy of a Victorian sensationalist novel with its dark secrets and melodramatic endings. All the characters are keeping dark secrets that could ruin them all...
The story is told from the alternating first-person perspective of the Mistress of Scarcross Hall and the third person perspective a shepherd that joins them one spring. As the year progresses we have ghostly presences, ancient coins, animal slaughtering, secrets aplenty and more than one accusation of witchcraft. But what will Winter bring?
Some very atmospheric prose in this one.
“I’ve had blood on my hands ever since. I’m elbow deep in a thigh, viscous caul of it. Though I’ve never sweated and screamed in my own childbed, I know life and death better than most women. And now, as ever, I’m mindful of my mother. It happens every time I birth a lamb - the weighted pause before the newborn’s first breath, like a clock’s final turning before the hour’s strike, and I always think the same thing: how the moment of birth, of new life, so often means the death of something else.”
However, the plot wavered a little for me and I was not a fan of the secret that was revealed. Neverthe less a good gothic read and there is nothing wrong with that.
More Gothic than merely ghostly this is recommended for fans of [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg].
This is a creepy gothic tale of a 17th century Hall and sheep farm on the moors of Yorkshire. The plot is worthy of a Victorian sensationalist novel with its dark secrets and melodramatic endings. All the characters are keeping dark secrets that could ruin them all...
The story is told from the alternating first-person perspective of the Mistress of Scarcross Hall and the third person perspective a shepherd that joins them one spring. As the year progresses we have ghostly presences, ancient coins, animal slaughtering, secrets aplenty and more than one accusation of witchcraft. But what will Winter bring?
Some very atmospheric prose in this one.
“I’ve had blood on my hands ever since. I’m elbow deep in a thigh, viscous caul of it. Though I’ve never sweated and screamed in my own childbed, I know life and death better than most women. And now, as ever, I’m mindful of my mother. It happens every time I birth a lamb - the weighted pause before the newborn’s first breath, like a clock’s final turning before the hour’s strike, and I always think the same thing: how the moment of birth, of new life, so often means the death of something else.”
However, the plot wavered a little for me and I was not a fan of the secret that was revealed. Neverthe less a good gothic read and there is nothing wrong with that.
More Gothic than merely ghostly this is recommended for fans of [a:Daphne du Maurier|2001717|Daphne du Maurier|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1422444467p2/2001717.jpg].
I will review this when I see the movie Ringu - in the spirit of BookTubeAThon. But meanwhile you can see my 4 minute 'Vlog at https://youtu.be/P_Pr26Pfjzk
