Something Quite Beautiful A Short Story - Amanda Prowse

​​

​Can you ever escape your fate?

​​​

Somewhere in the wilds of Scotland, three boys await their fate. They have been sentenced to twenty years in Glenculloch, a remote prison for the most hopeless of criminals. The rumours say that it is run by a woman who thinks she's God. A woman who decides what is ugly, and what is beautiful. A woman who decides who lives, and who dies...

Published by: Head of Zeus - Fiction
Year: 2013 - Kindle Exclusive
Pages: approx. 143
ISBN (E) 9781781856956

Summary

Amanda Prowse's first short story is Something Quite Beautiful which was released on the 1st June 2013 as an Amazon Kindle exclusive.​​  Edwina Justice is the only women in a mans prison in a remote area of Scotland. In this short story you get to know three young men not quite out of their teens who are facing the next 20 years at Glenculloch. Edwina Justice is there to ensure they abide by her rules.

1. Always tell the truth
2. Always display good manners
3. Never swear
4. Work hard
5. Respect yourself
6. Respect others

Some say you will never leave Glenculloch but the numbers of prisoners never seems to rise  and there are those that would say once you have been to Glenculloch it would seem like you had never existed.

Conclusion

Considering this is a short story you were still able to learn each of the back grounds of the young men and the trouble that lead each of them to find themselves at her majesties pleasure.  You get to see both sides of Edwina Justice first and foremost as the governor of a men's prison and the responsibility that brings and  the relationship she has with her officers.econdly as a widow of some years who misses her husband and is trying to carry on with her life after his death. This was the first book I purchased for my Kindle and I found it a very easy read. You may have read my previous blogs on Amanda Prowse novels but you  also get a taste of each of her books at the end of Something Quite Beautiful. to help you decide if her other books are of interest to you.  

Clover's Child - Amanda Prowse

Dot Simpson reached up and touched Sol's face.

Yes! Yes, she would go with him. She wouldn't miss the dark mornings, the dirty buses, the rude customers or the cold. She wanted to feel the salt water burn on her skin, she wanted to lie in his arms and sleep with the shutters thrown open, and the promise of fresh pineapple juice for breakfast.

Dot had never imagined that there might be a life like that for a girl like her.

Head of Zeus - Fiction
Year: 2013
Pages: 354
ISBN: 9781781854242

I was recently given Poppy Day as a gift and thoroughly enjoyed it especially as I have a son in the RAF who will be off to Afghanisbloodystan in October.  Having read Poppy Day I obviously HAD to read Clover's Child.  I bought a copy and I was so gripped I have to say it took me less than 24 hours to read the 354 pages.  For anyone who is yet to read it I won't spoil the story but for me this is most definitely the best work yet to come from Amanda Prowse, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry and Clover's story was one that will resonate with a lot of girls from the 1960's who's forbidden love would break their heart. . Can't wait to see what Amanda will come up with next. 

Poppy Day - Amanda Prowse

Updated cover under publishers Head of Zeus in 2012

Original Cover when first released in 2011

What would you sacrifice to bring home the one you love?

Ever since Poppy Day married her childhood sweetheart, Mart, she's been deliriously happy.

 Now Mart is fighting a war abroad, and Poppy is counting the days until he returns.

It takes one knock at the door to rip Poppy's world apart.

Mart has been taken hostage in Afghanistan and Poppy is determined to get him home. But what can one women do, alone in a foreign land, to save the man she loves?

Published by:  Independently/Head of Zeus - Fiction
Year: Paperback 2011 and 2012
Pages: 342
ISBN: 9781781851111


Conclusion

Poppy Day was first released independently by Amanda Prowse in 2011 with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion.  Publishers Head of Zeus subsequently re-released the novel with a cover change in 2012 but still with all proceeds going to the Royal British Legion a charity close to Amanda's heart.  The story of Poppy Day shows the courage of a young army wife whose beloved child hood sweetheart and husband is taken hostage whilst on tour in Afghanistan. Poppy doesn't feel that the army are doing enough to get her husband back and decides to take matters into her own hands by going to Afghanistan and getting her man back. A long the way you get to know and meet Poppy's family the most important and influential person being her grandmother Dorothea, who has always encouraged and supported her grand-daughter whilst her own daughter Cheryl fails. Poppy Day is a compelling story of life in the East end of London and of one young girls fight for justice. A great first novel.

All proceeds from the sale of Poppy Day go directly to The Royal British Legion to help fund the Charity's Battle Back Centre for injured Service Personnel. If you would like to know more please visit.

www.britishlegion.org.uk/battleback

What Have I Done - Amanda Prowse

Would you destroy your family to save your children?

Kathryn Brooker seems the very picture of a fulfilled wife and mother. Anyone who peered through the downstairs window at the four figures sitting around her kitchen table would see a happy family without a care in the world. They would envy Kathryn her perfect life.

But they would be wrong. Kathryn is trapped in a nightmare. And she is about to do something to change it. Something only a truly desperate women would do.

Published by:Head of Zeus - Fiction
Year: Paperback 2013
Pages: 323
ISBN: 9781781852149 



Conclusion

Amanda Prowse used to assume that domestic violence was in her own words something that happened within families of booze-addled individuals, who knocked seven bells out of each other in a high-rise tower block. Unfortunately as she has found whilst carrying out her research for this book, this is far from the truth they are only the families that we get to hear about.   Domestic violence is not exclusive to any socio-economic group. There are countless women within  families who are subjected to unthinkable physical and psychological abuse on a daily basis. To all intense and purposes they have the idyllic life and the envy of most of their friends.  My mother had a saying 'street angel, house devil' and this is how she would of described Mark Brooker. This a compelling story of a women's decision to stop her husbands abuse once and for all but in doing so she has to sacrifice her relationship  with her children who are unaware the terrible abuse their father delivers behind closed doors. You see Kathryn Brooker rebuild her life and struggle to rebuild her relationship with her children. This is a story that will resonate with many women.

My Animals and Other Family - Claire Balding

Claire balding's family was larger than most. Not only was there her brother, mother and champion-trainer father, but also racehorses, mares, foals, ponies and an ever-present pack of boxers and lurchers. In this unforgettable memoir, she shows how they taught her everything she knows about life, love, joy and sadness. 



Published by:Penguin - Non-Fiction
Year: Papback 2012
Pages: 258
ISBN: 978-0-241-95975-6

Conclusion

I never really knew anything about Claire Balding other than she is a TV Presenter and seeing her at Crufts.  I certainly had no idea that she was the daughter of a race horse trainer who famously trained Mill Reef.  Her memoir is a lovely account of her life with her family and of course her beloved animals.  Great as a holiday read and not just for adults.  What I didn't didn't know about you  Ms Balding was just what a naughty little girl you were!!!!

The Accidental Husband - Jane Green

Maggie and Sylvie are strangers...

Two very different women, living on opposite coasts. But they share more in common than they could ever imagine.

Both women have beautiful children on the verge of flying the nest, a home they worked hard to build and a handsome and devoted husband they can't believe belongs to them. Both think their lives are seamlessly secure. But they couldn't be more wrong...

Each is about to discover a secret that will shake their world to the very core, throwing into doubt everything they ever thought they knew, and bringing them together in a most unexpected way.

Published by: PENGUIN BOOKS - Fiction
Year: Paperback 2013
Pages 393
ISBN: 978-0-718-15753-5

Conclusion

I was recommended this book by a work colleague who managed to read it within three days, I didn't quite manage that but did manage to complete it in four. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found I just couldn't put it down.  In each chapter you discover each of the characters and about their lives the good times as well as the bad. You see the children grow and mature into adults and Maggie and Sylvie transform their lives.  The sad truth being that for some this would not just be a fictitious story but an account of their lives and as individuals we would be in  wonder just how they couldn't know what was going on without having a slight suspicion   It was another gripping book for me and one I would certainly recommend as a good read.  I have not read anything by Jane Green before but if this book was anything to go by I would certainly read more of her work. 

My Secret Sister - Helen Edwards & Jenny Lee Smith

Helen grew up in a pit village in Tyneside in the post-war years, with her gran, aunties and uncles living nearby. She felt safe with them, but they couldn't protect her from her neglectful mother and violent father. Blamed for everything that went wrong in their lives., she suffered years of abuse.

Jenny was adopted at six weeks old and grew up in Newcastle. An only child, she knew she was loved and with the support of her parents she became a champion golfer. But she still felt that something was missing.

Neither knew of the other's existence until Jenny went looking for her birth family and found her sister Helen. Together they searched for the truth about Jenny's birth - and uncovered a legacy of secrets and lies that overturned everything Helen thought she knew about her family.

Moving and inspirational, this is a story of the extraordinary bond of sisterhood and a tribute to two women strong enough to let love, not bitterness, define them.


Published by: PAN Books - Non-fiction
Year: Paperback  2013 
ISBN: 978-1-4472-2887-5


Conclusion

This is the remarkable story of two sisters separated at birth neither knowing of the the others existence until one of them decided to trace her birth mother. I did enjoy reading this book (enjoy might not be the right word really) I know from researching family history myself that a lot of informal adoptions between families went on  when a child was born out of wedlock and webs of secrets were constructed to prevent the child ever finding out.  The mother of these two ladies certainly did that and more and it is testament to these two ladies that they have been able to put the past behind them and build on the future as a family.